Wednesday 9 November 2016

Donald Trump wins 45th Presidential Election 2016 - What it means for India?

Donald Trump wins 45th Presidential Election in USA
  • Trump’s immigration policies, especially as he has spoken of putting up border walls, stopping immigrants from entering the country and ending the use of the H-1B. 
  • It is likely that the future policies will start looking inward and slow down international education exchanges and student mobility.
  • There may not be any need to worry as higher education in USA is a trillion dollar business for the American economy and India is the second highest in terms of sending students there. “They need us more than we need them.” 
  • Interestingly Telugu students in US universities numbering around 30,000 adds to US economy about one billion dollars, every year. All Indian students about 150,000 spends $5 billion in US universities.
  • Career advancement is one of the prime motivations for Indian students to study in the US. Trump’s anti-immigrant stance may create stricter visa and immigration policies that may make it even more difficult for students to come to the US and find internship and job opportunities.
  • After Brexit, US elections have shown that nationalist viewpoints are gaining momentum. This will prompt visa and immigration policies to limit transition from education to employment opportunities. 
  • Trump may remove restrictions on drug imports. This will benefit Indian generic drug companies. India contributes to nearly a third of all drugs sold in the US and this is unlikely to change, given the thrust on affordable health care.
My View:
Although Trump made controversial and inconsistent statements about India and China in regard to students, jobs, H1B etc. with his 'nationalist' and 'anti globalisation' pronouncements, he may not act in haste because what ever he does it not only hurts India but also hurts US equally. Getting approvals from Congress and Senate is not an easy task for him. But many of his followers with 'Jobs for Americans' agenda are emboldened with his pronouncements and sooner or later these might take shape and are detrimental to Indians. See the confidence of Chinese who states that 'let him hurt China at America's expense' and their market indices are stable today while world indices witnessed volatility.

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