US Companies Plan to Move Key Work to India

Donald Trump's H-1B visa crackdown, opens new tab will hasten U.S. firms' shift of critical work to India, turbocharging the growth of global capability centres (GCCs) that handle operations from finance to research and development, economists and industry insiders say.

The world's fifth-largest economy is home to 1,700 GCCs, or more than half the global tally, having outgrown its tech support origins to become a hub of high-value innovation in areas from design of luxury car dashboards to drug discovery.

Trends such as growing adoption of artificial intelligence and increasing curbs on visas are pushing U.S. firms to redraw labour strategies, with GCCs in India emerging as resilient hubs blending global skills with strong domestic leadership.

"GCCs are uniquely positioned for this moment. They serve as a ready in-house engine," said Rohan Lobo, partner and GCC industry leader at Deloitte India, who said he knew of several U.S. firms reassessing their workforce needs.

"Plans are already underway" for such a shift, he added, pointing to greater activity in areas such as financial services and tech, and particularly among firms with exposure to U.S. federal contracts.

Lobo said he expected GCCs to "take on more strategic, innovation-led mandates" in time.

U.S. President Trump raised the cost of new H-1B visa applications this month to $100,000, from an existing range of $2,000 to $5,000, adding pressure on U.S. firms that relied on skilled foreign workers to bridge critical talent gaps.

On Monday, U.S. senators reintroduced a bill to tighten rules on the H-1B and L-1 worker visa programmes, targeting what they called loopholes and abuse by major employers.

If Trump's visa curbs go unchallenged, industry experts expect U.S. firms to shift high-end work tied to AI, product development, cybersecurity, and analytics to their India GCCs, choosing to keep strategic functions in-house over outsourcing.

Growing uncertainty fuelled by the recent changes has given fresh impetus to discussions about shifting high-value work to GCCs that many firms were already engaged in.