Bengaluru, Sept. 8: The Indian IT sector’s uproar over Senator Schumer’s Border Security Bill which was passed on August 13th had barely simmered down, when the Governor of Ohio State, Mr Ted Strickland, ordered the barring of public funding for companies fulfilling state contracts with outsourced labour.

The order comes at a time when the November polls to the US Congress and Ohio governorship are drawing closer. And more such electoral rhetoric can be expected in the run up to the election in the next few weeks.

Mr Strickland’s order followed shortly after reports that the Texan firm hired to administer Ohio’s federally funded, appliance manufacturers and retailers rebate programme used workers in Central America as a part of the programme.

In a released statement, Mr Strickland said “Outsourcing jobs does not reflect Ohio values. Ohioa-ns have been among the hardest hit by more than a decade of unfair trade agre-ements that promoted offshoring jobs at the expense of Ohioans who work for a living. We must do everything within our power to prevent outsourcing jobs.”

Mr Ganesh Natarajan, the chairman of the CII national committee on IT and the chief executive officer of Zensar Technologies, said that while the Ohio development would not have much of a financial impact on IT firms, the issue would be taken up with the US trade mission visiting India this month. Indian IT firms earn most of their revenue from the US private sector.

Infosys Technologies said, “We are concerned... about banning offshore outsourcing by Ohio state government departments.”

“Ohio’s ban on outsourcing can only be viewed as counterproductive to the US government thrust on reducing public deficit and possibly lead to an increased tax burden on its citizens,” said Nasscom in a written statement.

While the public sector represents a small fraction in the overall demand for offshored services it does represent a future focus area, said Nasscom.