India Sets US$25,000 Minimum Wage for Foreign IT Hires

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Aug. 5 – Authorities have revised minimum wage requirements for foreign employees hired in the IT sector to US$25,000 a year or about US$2,083 a month.

“Foreigners can apply for jobs in the IT sector provided Indian firms pay each of them a minimum annual salary of US$25,000,” a senior home ministry official told Mint. “There is no salary cap for any other sector like power and steel. We would grant visa in other sectors as per the guidelines issued by the ministry of labor and employment.”

India has also changed the cap on issuing employment visas for foreign employees hired by local companies to 1 percent of the total employees for small local firms  and as much as 20 for larger organizations.  The rule is not applicable to local companies in the IT sector. If a local company wants to employ more than 20 foreign employees it must submit a request to the labor ministry in New Delhi.

Foreigners applying for a work visa in India are required to submit proof of academic qualifications along with documents detailing the work scope and the number of employees hired by the local company.

India is also considering issuing special project visas for foreigner employees that will tie the validity of the visa with the completion of the project. “Under project visas, Indian firms can hire as many foreigners for the execution of projects (as they want),” the home ministry official said. “The visa won’t cover maintenance of the project afterwards and any other job related to it.”