FICCI welcomes US Senate rejection of anti-outsourcing bill

NEW DELHI - A leading trade and industry association of India Wednesday welcomed the US Senate’s rejection of a bill that aims at preventing native firms from outsourcing their work by denying tax benefits.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) General Secretary Amit Mitra said the chamber had been maintaining that protectionist measures of any kind were not in the long-term interest of anyone.

“They would only weaken the foundation of free and fair trade,” said Mitra.

Pointing out that “the world is becoming a borderless entity with developments in the fields of information technology, communication, transportation and services”, he said: “In such a situation, taking measures that force companies to restrict their economic activities in one region or the other would be a retrograde step.”

“We believe that the majority of US Senate has appreciated this reality and kept in mind the larger interest of the US economy, its corporations and global economy,” said Mitra, welcoming the rejection of the anti-outsourcing bill.

“The opposition from several US business groups including the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) to this bill shows that these groups realize that such measures would only hurt the competitiveness of US companies and job creation,” he said.

The Senate rejected the bill which sought to amend the US Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to create American jobs and to prevent the off-shoring of such jobs overseas.