IT professionals offered 145;escort146;

In the wake of Indian IT professionals having some unpleasant experiences abroad, the government has decided to start an 8216;escort service8217; that will provide information on foreign countries8217; visa rules.

The IT ministry and Nasscom were working together to create such a service, said Minister for Information Technology Arun Shourie, here on Monday. IT secretary R.R. Shah had already held discussions with Nasscom president Kiran Karnik in this regard.

They would jointly provide escort service to Indian IT professionals going overseas, he said, when asked about the detention of a I-flex official. There were several lessons to be learnt from the incident.

Quoting chairman of Wipro Limited Azim Premji, Shourie said, Indian IT companies need to be 8216;scrupulous8217;, but hastened to add that he was not saying that they were not scrupulous.

Besides being very careful about visa regimes, he said, there is also a need for Indian firms to work closely with overseas customers, who are bound to bail them out in such situations.