Infosys Technologies on Wednesday said it will apply for lesser number of H-1B visas this year. Last year the company had applied and received 4,500 of those visas, but this year it could be less than 3,000.

Infosys chief financial officer V Balakrishnan told Financial Chronicle that most other companies may also decide to apply for less. The H-1B visa allotment started on Wednesday. Every year, the quota gets exhausted within the first 2-3 days, but this time it may take longer.

“We have decided to cut down on the number of applications. This time it will be 25-30 per cent less than the previous yea,” Balakrishnan said.

Indian IT firms are facing an uncertain business environment globally. There is also the need to downsize onsite workforce as clients continue to ask for reduced billing rates. This has led to companies such as Infosys to apply for lesser number of visas.

“We want to assess the business environment and do it on an ‘as and when’ policy. We may not be required to utilise all the visas we receive, if the business environment is not conducive,” Balakrishnan said.

The Indian IT firms are looking at a business model that’s not just dependent on visas, but one that includes hiring local workforce and in near shore locations, the Infosys CFO added. Applying for lesser number of visas would mean lower costs and that would have a positive impact on first quarter margins.

The H-1B programme allows US companies to bring in foreign skilled workers when such skills are in short supply.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services has said it would continue to accept applications beyond the five-day stipulated period if it does not receive adequate number of applications to meet the annual cap of 65,000. Of that 20 per cent goes to Indian IT firms.