Kolkata: The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) today (Nov 16) opposed any protectionist measure by the US against India and said a free global market for IT industry would truly benefit all countries and people.

Referring to the US Government move to cut back on immigration for Indian professionals, the president of ITAA Harris Miller said, "We reject that altogether. ITAA wants free competition in the field of IT as only then it will create a win-win situation for all."

The US protectionist measures were prompted by the fear of job losses due to outsourcing IT services.

As "forces of protectionism might go stronger, the IT industry world-over need to ensure that the industry in Kolkata grows as much as Boston", Miller said at the "Infocom 2003" conference, organised by NASSCOM and 'Business World'.

About the future of the global IT industry, he said, "We are seeing a strong comeback in IT spending in the US."

Speaking on the occasion, senior partner of McKinsey & Co Rajat Gupta said as per a study by McKinsey Global Institute, off-shoring activities benefit both the countries as investors outsourcing services from another country actually create more value for the economy through it.

"For every Dollar that moved out of US, there is a return of 1.12-1.14 Dollar worth value to the US economy," he said.

NASSCOM chairman Som Mittal said outsourcing services actually made those countries more competitive and provided cheaper products to their customers.

West Bengal IT Minister Manab Mukherjee also spoke on the occasion.

PTI