No immediate areas of concern for IT over Canada diplomatic row

Indian IT firms do not see any immediate fallout as a result of the diplomatic row between India and Canada. However, they continue to keep a close watch on the evolving scenario. “We are in close touch with our members in Canada, and as per their feedback, there are no immediate areas of concern,” IT industry body, Nasscom said in a statement on Thursday.

Revenues for IT firms from the Canada region is in the range of 5-6%, but they have expanded and nearshored their operations in the country in the last few years. As per a report of Technology Council of North America and Canada’s Tech Network, Indians formed the largest group of tech industry workers who migrated to Canada in FY23. The report pegged the number at more than 15,000.

Because of visa problems in US during Covid and also during Donald Trump’s regime, many Indian tech employees preferred to migrate to Canada than to US. However, in recent times getting US visa has become relatively easier, so many tech industry workers are moving to US from Canada, because wages are better in US.

In July this year, Infosys Public Services (IPS), the North American subsidiary of Indian IT major, Infosys, opened a new step down subsidiary, Infosys Public Services Canada, Inc (IPS Canada). Infosys said that it is aiming to increase its employee headcount in Canada to 8,000 by 2024.

As per Infosys, IPS Canada accelerates digital transformation for public sector organisations across the country, including federal departments, provincial ministries, municipalities, and crown corporations. It also provides access to top tier IT talent and innovative solutions to improve the delivery of government services to Canadians.

This January, TCS was selected as a strategic partner by Canadian Jet manufacturer, Bombardier to accelerate its digital transformation and drive innovation.

Last year TCS entered into a strategic partnership with Payments Canada, the country’s largest payment organisation, to transform its payment system operations and help implement the Real-Time Rail (RTR), the new real-time payments system that will allow Canadians to initiate payments and receive irrevocable funds in seconds.

In January, Wipro announced the opening of its newest Wipro-AWS Launch Pad Centre in Toronto, Canada, which will enable customers in to accelerate their move to the cloud and build industry leading solutions.

The company at that time said that “Toronto serves as a prime location to enable co-creation across industries given the ongoing technology expansion and investments in the city, which is now the third largest tech hub in North America”. Financial Express