Congress criticises India’s government after US PERM restrictions

India’s Congress party accused Narendra Modi’s government on October 9 of failing to protect Indian IT professionals after eight companies were suspended from the US PERM programme.

Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh criticised the government in a post on X. He argued that concessions to Donald Trump’s administration had failed to deliver and said India had options for retaliation, including under its personal data protection legislation.

Ramesh also linked his criticism to the controversy surrounding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and calls for his resignation. He claimed the government would not use its options to respond to Washington. His remarks were an opposition position, rather than an announcement of retaliatory measures.

The US restrictions were announced on October 8. They covered Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, Capgemini, Microsoft and Adobe under the Permanent Labour Certification Programme, used in the process for permanent employment of foreign workers.

US officials cited investigations and alleged hiring abuses as reasons for the action. Those accusations represent the administration’s position. The PERM suspension concerns labour certification and does not itself amount to cancellation of every foreign employee’s visa.