Tim McElligott Blog: Questioning Bangalorephobia

Homophobia is an accurate term for describing the manifestations of fear in some people regarding homosexuality. Homophobia is real. It is real not because it is justified, but because people’s fear is irrational. That’s what makes it a phobia. Some other phobias we've heard a lot about these days are not real. They are not real because the fear and distrust that drives them are not irrational. They are well deserved.

The term “phobia” is increasingly applied like a debate tactic to put people on the defensive, instill guilt and redirect blame. This week, we have a new phobic arrow being slung at the “West”: Bangalorephobia. This one is tougher to analyze. Bangalorephobia is fearing India’s dominance of the global software development market. But what is irrational about that?

On Friday the Times of India accused the U.S. and the U.K., but especially U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat, of Bangalorephobia. Schumer used the debate over the Border Security Bill to call companies like Infosys “chop shops” that take away American jobs with cheap labor. He proposed paying for measures in the Border Security Bill with fees imposed on H-1B and L1 visas, used extensively by Indian IT, software development and integration companies.

The proposed bill would hike the visa fee to $2,000 per application on those entities that have less than 50 percent U.S. citizens as employees. These fees also would affect companies such as such as Wipro, Tata Consulting, Infosys and Satyam. And they could cost U.S. companies as much as $200-$250 million in visa fee hikes.

Such legislation might appear to be driven by Bangalorephobia. But it is just as likely that those pushing phobic remedies are only trying to stir an emotional pot to score political points. And while these remedies may be irrational, the fear of losing good, skilled jobs to Indian developers is real — not irrational. I think that Indian software supporters are overplaying the phobia card and U.S. politicians are under-thinking the business relationship that exists between Western companies and their Indian partners.

We have been irrational in our response to our fears. U.S.-based companies in the software space do use Indian developers because they are cheaper, but also because they are skilled and educated and because companies can’t find enough of the same combination here at home. We could not fill the hundreds of thousands of jobs in IT and software development even if we wanted to. Not today. Not while we continue to grow our uneducated underclass.

Responding with protectionism rather than refocusing on our educational system and competitiveness is irrational. Putting our domestic border security and immigration problems on the backs of much-needed and sought-after Indian IT contractors and the companies who secure their services is irrational. Thinking we can't do just as well or better with our own labor force is irrational. But that’s not phobic; that’s just stupid.

On the other hand, throwing around the term phobia so casually also is irrational. It is not a good time to tweak the nationalist sensibilities of Americans. Not when three-fifths of your $52.6 billion in IT services exports goes there. Once established, we tend to cling to our phobias. So it is probably best not to plant that seed unnecessarily. And if the legislation doesn’t go your way, bite your tongue, lose the phobia lingo and wait it out. Politics works in the short term here. Things change.