Taking people from India to the US on work visas to take advantage of lower labour arbitrage may be a mistake, and companies must look at creating jobs in both countries, Cisco Executive Chairman John Chambers said on Thursday.
Chambers is in India to announce the creation of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) which he says will take the relationship between the two countries, their companies and people to the next level, financial daily Economic Times reported.
"You can't go in and take a whole bunch of H1-B visas and displace American workers for a lower cost. That is just a mistake," Chambers said. "The jobs which are being created have to be created in both the countries. It is not a win-lose (situation); both the countries can have dramatic job creation by working together," he added.
He said there are many examples of partnerships between two companies that have led to more jobs in both the US and India, and there is a need to communicate such instances better, rather than rare cases of job losses that are an exception. That's an area where the avatar of US-India Business Council (USIBC) will be able to help by constant messaging etc., Chambers said.
The 67 year American executive has been a long-time supporter of India and an admirer of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "I see the Prime Minister as one of the top leaders that I have ever met in my life. He has got a vision and a strategy; he knows how to execute them for India's 1.3 billion people," Chambers told to Mint in an interview.
Asking about his working relations with present government, he said Modi knows how to form win-win partnerships that most people don't. "He is moving faster than any leader in the world. I would give India an A in terms of progress over the last three years," Chambers added.
