Given that Indian IT services companies have become less dependent on H-1B visas over the past ten years due to increased localization and outsourcing, the impact of the $100,000 increase in the application cost is anticipated to be minimal, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The medium-term effects, however, might be more noticeable. According to a Franklin Templeton analysis, the high cost of delivery in the US may result in a substantially higher cost base, forcing businesses to review their operating models and look into mitigating measures.

A company’s exposure to the US, the makeup of its onsite staff, and its reliance on non-local expertise could all affect how much of an impact it has.

Historically, executive measures have been more responsible for visa-related issues than legislative changes, and earlier stages of visa tightening already saw an increase in cost constraints. Crucially, supply-side disruptions typically cause more harm in high-growth settings, which are not the case at the moment.

The earliest significant impact is probably going to be seen in FY27 petition cycles, since H-1B lotteries and petitions normally take place in Q4–Q1.

According to the survey, providers are anticipated to respond by increasing offshoring, growing nearshore operations in Canada and Mexico, pursuing acquisitions in Europe and APAC to broaden their geographic diversification, and investing in automation and artificial intelligence to boost efficiency.

As onsite possibilities decrease and customers want greater rate realization and efficiency improvements, these changes are likely to make Global Capability Centers (GCCs) in India more alluring to talent.

Although there may be some short-term volatility in India’s equities markets, overall values are still high when compared to historical averages.

However, because of the poor demand outlook, IT industry valuations have changed during the past six to twelve months.

A resurgence in domestic consumption and a slow increase in private sector capital expenditure are helping to improve the outlook for overall corporate earnings in Indian markets.

“India’s macroeconomic fundamentals remain resilient, even though global risks like US tariffs present short-term challenges for export-driven sectors,” the paper stated.

According to the report, the market may benefit from the possible signing of a trade deal with the US in the second half of 2025, as well as increased domestic demand and better earnings visibility in the upcoming quarters.

In a Super Fours match of the 2025 Men’s T20 Asia Cup, India defeated Pakistan by six wickets on Sunday at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium thanks to a brilliant 74 off 39 balls from Abhishek Sharma.

The outcome also recorded India’s most successful chase against Pakistan in Twenty20 Internationals, as the world champions continued their winning streak.

The outcome also recorded India’s most successful chase against Pakistan in Twenty20 Internationals, as the defending world champions continued their winning streak.

Abhishek set the tone for a commanding chase as he hit the opening ball from Shaheen Shah Afridi for six, igniting India’s determined pursuit of 172. Together with Shubman Gill, who scored a quick 47 off 28 deliveries, the two created a game-changing opening partnership of 105 runs that left Pakistan reeling.

After collecting two boundaries from Ashraf, Abhishek ended a lengthy post-fifty quiet and lofted Abrar over wide long-on for six. He quickly holed out to long-on after mistiming a pull off the wrist spinner’s wide googly.

Varma and Sanju Samson remained to keep the scoreboard moving even though India needed just 49 runs off of 46 balls. Tilak and Hardik Pandya gently pushed the ball around for boundaries to lead India home, despite Rauf hitting a scratchy Samson.

Prior to this, Pakistan reached 171/5 in their 20 overs, with Sahibzada Farhan leading the way with 58 and Faheem Ashraf providing a late boost with an undefeated 20 off eight balls. Pakistan’s innings was anchored by Farhan’s half-century, which was distinguished by his deft use of the crease and strategic footwork.

Abhishek fumbled his catch off Pandya in the first over, giving Farhan a worry, but he managed to survive. Fakhar Zaman’s promotion move started off nicely when he moved down the field to drive Bumrah for another boundary after flicking him for four.

Read more: Asia Cup 2025: Know About Match Schedule

The third umpire confirmed that Zaman had edged a slower delivery from Pandya that just carried to Samson, ending his promising start in the third over.

Salman Agha lofted a googly from Kuldeep over long-off for six to start Pakistan’s back-end comeback. Mohammad Nawaz then swatted and edged Dube for six and four. However, India retaliated when Nawaz was out for 21 after taking a direct hit from Kuldeep.

If Gill hadn’t lost his catch at deep mid-wicket, India would have got him after Ashraf hit a Bumrah full toss for six. Ashraf edged and cut Pandya for four and six to push Pakistan above 170, but it wasn’t enough to prevent India from winning handily. That miss proved costly.

Brief scores:
Pakistan 171/5 in 20 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 58, Saim Ayub 21; Shivam Dube 2-33, Hardik Pandya 1-29)
India 174/4 in 18.5 overs (Abhishek Sharma 74, Shubman Gill 47; Haris Rauf 2-26, Faheem Ashraf 1-31) won by six wickets

Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared on Sunday that the Indian people will be able to save money by participating in a statewide “GST Utsav” that would begin on Monday, the first day of Navratri.

As the new GST rates take effect on September 22, the Prime Minister told the country that people will be able to purchase their favorite things at reduced prices.

“Next Gen GST reforms being implemented from tomorrow, it is like ‘GST saving festival’,” stated Prime Minister Modi.

“You will have easy access to your favorite products starting tomorrow. Every Indian may enjoy a GST savings festival as a result of this,” the prime minister continued.

According to PM Modi, the GST rate cuts have doubled the advantages for the poor and the emerging middle class.

He claimed that the new phase of GST changes will directly benefit middle-class households, farmers, MSMEs, women, and young people, while also greeting Indians on the occasion of Navratri.

On September 4, the government had already announced reductions in the GST rates for a variety of goods, including everyday consumer goods and vehicles.

Since the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax in July 2017, this is the largest indirect tax overhaul.

With a two-slab structure of 5% and 18%, the new system—often referred to as GST 2.0—introduces a 40 percent charge only for ultra luxury, sin, and demerit products.

At its 56th meeting, the GST Council approved the amendments after reaching an agreement with the state and federal governments.

The Prime Minister’s Office had announced on X earlier in the day that PM Modi would speak to the country at 5:00 p.m.

PM Modi emphasized in his speech that the changes represent the spirit of cooperation between the states and the Center.

The decision to proceed with the new tax structure, according to the prime minister, will lower the cost of goods, boost industry, and fortify the Indian economy.

India has chosen “Homebound” as its official Oscar 2026 entry in the Best International Feature category. The film, which was produced by Dharma Productions, features Janhvi Kapoor, Vishal Jethwa, and Ishaan Khatter.

The filmmaker Karan Johar has stated that he is extremely honored and humbled that his movie “Homebound” has been chosen as India’s official Oscar 2026 entry. For Johar and the whole project team, the announcement is a proud moment.

“We are extremely honored and humbled that Homebound has been chosen as India’s official entry to the Academy Awards,” said Karan, the film’s financier, in a statement. Millions of hearts worldwide will undoubtedly find a place for Neeraj Ghaywan’s labor of love.

In addition, Karan Johar announced the news on his Instagram account, sharing his delight with the caption, “One of the ‘pinch me‘ moments that I will NEVER forget!!!!” Our movie #Homebound has been chosen as India’s official entry for Best International Feature at the 98th Academy Awards! We are incredibly honored, humbled, and thrilled! We sincerely appreciate the @filmfederationofindia’s belief in the tale, in us, and in what we can contribute to the global Indian film scene. Warmest congrats to the entire group.

Filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan said, “I’m incredibly honored that Homebound has been selected as India’s official Oscar submission. The soul of the home we all share is carried by it, which is rooted in love for our land and people. I’m incredibly thankful for the opportunity to share our tales with the world and represent India on one of the largest international film festivals. It is both a source of pride and humility.

“Homebound” received a standing ovation that lasted nine minutes during its Cannes 2025 debut in the Un Certain Regard section.

After her film “Homebound” was selected as India’s official Oscar entry for 2026, actress Janhvi Kapoor took to social media to share her happiness.

“Everything about this movie has been nothing but a dream,” Janhvi said. The people, the trip, the significance of this story, and how intimate it has been for each member of our team. I have been grateful at every turn for the opportunity to see this journey, which, in my opinion, was the true prize in and of itself. Since then, everything has been a celebration of these individuals, whom I greatly admire and love for their courage, ability, and goodness. @neeraj.ghaywan @karanjohar @vishaljethwa06 @ishaankhatter In many ways, this film and its journey have been about optimism as of September 26.

Former G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant stated on Saturday that US President Donald Trump‘s proposal to charge an annual fee of $100,000 for the H-1B visa will stifle American innovation while favoring Indian IT and software companies.

Trump has signed a proclamation to drastically reduce the H-1B visa program, which is a huge blow to Indian tech workers in the US and leading software businesses.

“Donald Trump’s $100,000 H-1B fee will stifle American innovation while fostering it in India.” “America pushes the next wave of labs, patents, innovation, and startups to Bangalore and Hyderabad, Pune, and Gurgaon by slamming the door on global talent,” Kant wrote on the social media platform X.

He added that the best physicians, engineers, scientists, and inventors in India have a chance to support India’s development and advancement toward Viksit Bharat.

“India will gain from America’s loss,” he said.

According to investor and entrepreneur Kunal Bahl, a huge number of bright people would return to India as a result of the new H1-B regulations.

He wrote on X, “Moving base will undoubtedly be difficult at first, but it will work out for them given the tremendous opportunities in India.”

The proclamation states that in an effort to reduce the abuse of the visa program and promote the employment of domestic workers, each application will now need to pay a $100,000 annual fee.

Trump stated that the “incentive is to hire American workers” as he signed the proclamation at the White House on Friday.

“We require employees. This essentially guarantees that we will have excellent workers, Trump continued.

Howard Lutnick, the secretary of commerce, also supported the action, claiming that it would deter businesses from employing foreigners.

Additionally, President Trump issued an executive order establishing a gold card program that would allow individuals to receive a visa for $1 million and businesses to receive a visa for $2 million.

IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw declared that as part of the ‘India AI Mission‘ to boost artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and skills, the government will set up more than 500 data laboratories across the country.

Speaking at a pre-event of the AI Impact Summit 2026, he added that this move is a component of the broader IndiaAI Mission, which has selected eight new firms to create large language models (LLMs), including Tech Mahindra, Fractal Analytics, and BharatGen, a consortium from IIT Bombay.

The team led by IIT Bombay has been given Rs 988.6 crore by the government through the IndiaAI Mission to create an LLM with one trillion parameters. Parameters are the internal variables of LLMs that draw linguistic correlations and patterns from training data.

The Center’s effort to create autonomous AI capabilities through sector-specific AI applications, GPUs, sovereign LLMs, and skill-building programs is known as the India AI Mission. At a cost of Rs 10,300 crore, it was approved earlier this year.

MeitY and the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser will also unveil an AI framework in ten days, according to Vaishnaw.

Additionally, industry-specific small language models (SLMs) are being developed for weather forecasting, manufacturing, logistics, transportation, and agriculture.

The minister noted that Abhishek Singh, the CEO of the India AI Mission, has been directed to investigate adding 10,000 extra GPUs to the country’s present pool of 34,000.

Additionally, he emphasized the need for an international framework for AI governance, but cautioned that the realization of such an agreement may take some time.

The development of sovereign LLMs, or large language models trained on Indian datasets and languages, is a crucial part of the objective to reduce reliance on foreign AI systems.

In order to train and deploy large AI models, computational capacity is needed, and India currently has 34,000 GPUs allocated to the project.

The AI framework will be released to the public within the next 10 days, Vaishnaw said, with the first industry-specific language models concentrating on manufacturing, logistics, transportation, weather forecasting, and agriculture.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the Union government intends to convert Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) nationwide into artificial intelligence (AI) training centers.

Speaking at the second annual symposium of the Indian Foundation for Quality Management (IFQM) in the nation’s capital, Sitharaman stated that the government has prioritized skilling and upskilling over the past two to three years and has included funding for it in the yearly budgets.

She pointed out that the central government introduced a hub-and-spoke architecture to modernize the ITIs because they were not contributing to the quickly evolving industrial environment.

According to the FM, “we will be able to provide them the entire money required for upgrading these places for AI-driven training centers if these ITIs were to adopt the hub and spoke model within the state.”

“Some institutes of excellence, like the Indian Institute of Science or the IITs, have been identified by the government to establish institutions of excellence for AI-related R&D and training,” she continued.

According to FM Sitharaman, the budget was created to make sure that young people at the grassroots level receive AI-driven skills, regardless of whether they are school dropouts or graduates, have completed a degree program, or have some other type of qualification but now wish to learn AI-related abilities.

“The ITI-based formulation that will be developed will take into account all such individuals. Many states are eager to develop the model, she added, adding that these centers will give students practical AI training.

The finance minister called for private sector involvement, pointing out the urgent need to upskill India’s youth to prepare them for “quick and direct” employment after completing their education.

“How to address the shortage of human resources – not the type of degree I desire, and not enough trained. There is no rounding off of the personalities. Although the degree is present, the person is not enough developed to work for the big international corporations or Indian businesses you are referring to. We must all complete that component. In order to prepare young people for immediate and direct employment, I would like the business sector to work with the government,” Sitharaman stated.

Across the country, PM Modi’s 75th birthday is being commemorated with festivities and the introduction of development, welfare, and health initiatives. With a flood of congratulations and tributes from political figures nationwide, it has turned into a national moment of celebration.

He was born on September 17, 1950, in Mehsana town, Gujarat, and served as Chief Minister for three consecutive terms from 2001 and 2014.

He is now in his third term as prime minister, having been elected in 2014. PM Modi has previously used his birthday to interact with the public, launch welfare initiatives, or take part in public events.

In a post on X, FM Nirmala Sitharaman expressed her hope that PM Modi will have a long and healthy life and continue to serve our country.

“Our people recognize his unwavering commitment to put India’s interest above all else, and they bless him,” she said.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal said, PM Modi has been serving the country and promoting the welfare of the populace for 50 years.

“As Chief Minister and then as Prime Minister, for 24 years, you have steered the government, bringing development to every corner of the country. From a humble worker to India’s illustrious Prime Minister, your entire life has been dedicated to serving the poor, youth, farmers, and women,” he posted on X.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said that Over the last 11 years, your unwavering hard work and dedication have brought unprecedented transformation in the lives of crores of Indians.

“You have ignited the lamp of patriotism in the heart of every citizen and awakened a resolve for active participation in nation-building. May God grant you excellent health and a long life, so that you continue to serve Mother India with the same dedication and energy in the coming years,” Joshi noted in a post on X.

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia stated that his first encounter with Prime Minister Modi as a member of his cabinet was an experience he would never forget.

“His deep interest in every subject, open mindedness, and out of the box perspective gave me new energy and inspired me to fulfill my responsibilities with even greater dedication and enthusiasm,” he posted on X.

Reliance Industries and Reliance Retail Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani praised PM Modi for his hard efforts to make India a world powerhouse.

As a “avatar purush,” God has appointed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rule India. The arrival of Modi Ji’s Amrit Mahotsav at Bharat’s Amrit Kaal is no accident. When India celebrates its 100th anniversary as an independent nation, I sincerely hope Modi Ji will still be serving the country,” he continued.

Uday Kotak, the director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, praised PM Modi’s technique of taking inspiration from international best practices and modifying them for India in order to guide the country toward development.

“Every conversation I’ve had with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been educational and motivating. The way he combines vision and execution, curiosity and humility, is what most impresses me,” Kotak stated on X.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, the founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, praised the Prime Minister’s progressive, technology-first strategy, saying it has established a solid basis for leveraging technology for inclusive advancement.

The chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, Kumar Mangalam Birla, said PM Modi is constantly interested in the state of the economy and how to encourage businesses to increase their investment.

Because he is also an extremely good listener, he will carefully listen to you and take in what you have to say if he asks you a question. Additionally, you should be well-prepared before seeing him since he will quickly figure out if you are misinformed,” Kumar Mangalam Birla stated.

Bharti Enterprises Founder and Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal post on social media platform X as part of the “My Modi Story” campaign, stated that PM Modi’s visit to Japan, during which he pledged to establish a single-window clearance desk in the PMO for Japanese investors, is a prime example, stating that it “fundamentally changed their perspective on investing in India.”

As the country prepares to commemorate PM Modi’s 75th birthday on Wednesday, September 17, compelling tales are being told through the “My Modi Story” campaign, which highlights the Prime Minister’s individual influence on individuals from all walks of life.

Google fires more than two hundred AI contractors. The action has sparked worries about low pay, job security, and potential reprisals against unionization attempts.

The layoffs occurred in at least two different waves last month and were implemented with little to no notice, according to a report by “WIRED.” A number of contractors reported that they were abruptly disconnected from their work.

A contractor named Andrew Lauzon claimed to have received an email on August 15 alerting him to the termination of his contract, saying, “I was just cut off.”

“They said ramp-down on the project—whatever that means—when I asked for a rationale. Given that we might quit at any time, how are we meant to feel safe in this job? He went on.

The contractors belonged to a group known as “super raters,” many of whom are said to have advanced degrees like master’s and doctoral degrees.

They were in charge of improving AI-generated responses so they sounded more accurate and natural.

According to employees who spoke to “WIRED,” they had a significant influence on Google’s AI products, such as the AI Overviews function that summarizes search results.

A generalist rater with GlobalLogic, stated, “As raters, we play an incredibly vital role.”

“The developers won’t have enough time to improve the bot and obtain the necessary input. We’re there to make sure nothing awful occurs, much like the lifeguards on the beach,” that person continued.

The impacted personnel were employed by GlobalLogic or its subcontractors, and Google has apparently denied direct culpability for the employment losses.

According to a remark from Google spokesman, “These people are not Alphabet employees; they are employees of GlobalLogic or their subcontractors. GlobalLogic and its subcontractors bear the responsibility for the employment and working conditions of their employees as the employers,” He continued.

The alleged layoffs coincide with Google’s significant AI investment to stay competitive with rivals like Microsoft and OpenAI.