Wipro has removed US President Donald Trump from the risk factors in its annual filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, a year after the information technology (IT) services company named his policies as a potential threat.The Bengaluru-headquartered IT company was the first to explicitly name Trump as a risk. The Trump risk factor has now been replaced with a statement on the global political environment.“Political and economic factors such as pending elections, changes in governments and revisions to government policies can affect our business. We are a global organisation and are therefore vulnerable to multiple factors that are difficult to predict beyond our influence and control, including shifts and uncertainties in global trade and economic policies,” Wipro said in its latest filing.“Changes in policies by governments in the countries where we operate in could affect our operating results due to changes in duties, tariffs or taxes, or limitations on currency or fund transfers, as well as government-imposed restrictions on producing certain products in, or shipping them to, specific countries,” it said.Last year, the company was more forceful in calling out risks.“On November 8, 2016, Mr. Donald J. Trump was elected the next President of the United States … Changes in US social, political, regulatory and economic conditions or in laws and policies governing foreign trade, manufacturing, development and investment in the territories and countries where we currently operate could adversely affect our business,” Wipro had told the SEC last year.64785556
Since he became the President, Trump has been trying to keep his campaign promise such as stricter immigration rules and cut in tax incentives for companies that moved work offshore. He forced US firms to bring back jobs to the country and launched a global trade war. For the IT services sector, Trump has asked for a review of the H-1B visa programme and announced his intent to rescind an Obama era rule to allow H4 employment authorisation document, which allows spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the US, and pushed for more local hiring.
Even as Wipro talked about boosting headcount outside India — a policy it calls localisation — the company kept the overall number of employees outside India steady. In FY17 and FY18, it had more than 35,000 employees outside India.