In what would possibly be the first instance on an IT company citing a President of the United States as a threat in a regulatory filing, Indian tech firm Wipro has told the US Securities and Exchange Commission in its annual filing that Donald Trump is a risk factor for the company.
A company's risk factors are a comprehensive listing of everything that could hurt its operations, revenue and profit - including geopolitical instability and terrorist attacks.
“Significant developments stemming from the recent US presidential election could have a material adverse effect on our business,“ Wipro said in its filing.
“On November 8, 2016, Mr Donald J Trump was elected the next president of the United States. As a candidate, President Trump and his administration expressed support for policies impacting existing trade agreements, like North America Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), and proposed trade agreements, and promoting greater restrictions on free trade generally and significant increases on tariffs on goods imported into the United States.“
Several IT companies have been left facing uncertainty over Trump administration’s protectionist measures and the overhaul of visa norms. Wipro has a separate risk factor detailing how it could be affected by restrictive changes to immigration laws in the US, UK, Singapore and Australia.
Since his election, IT companies have all said they will increase their hiring onsite and will lower their dependence on the work visa. Wipro said that by the end of the first quarter, over 50 per cent of its head count in the US would be locals.
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