India’s Ambassador to the U. S, Nirupama Rao has said that the IT sector firms from India supported as many as 280,000 jobs in US during 2011, when the global economy was facing a slowdown and experts were worried over unemployment data in the world’s largest economy.

“Our IT companies supported 280,000 jobs in the US last year. The IT companies have invested more than 5 billion dollars in FDI through acquisitions and green-field projects. The unemployment rate in the tech-space in this country is much lower than in manufacturing and that is where the effort is concentrated we believe today - to get back the jobs in manufacturing to this country,” she said.

Leading Indian IT sector outsourcers are aiming to get an image get over in the US market as the public sentiment is being turned against general outsourcing by various segments for the upcoming US presidential elections.

Wipro, Infosys and others want to be perceived not as a cheaper alternative for performing jobs but as responsible US listed firms that are creating jobs and investing in the future of the country. The makeover is more required at this time because of the upcoming US presidential elections in November, in which jobs is set to be a core issue and much hype will be created against outsourcing.