The meeting likely would have gone unnoticed had it not been for reports in the . Heading the Indian delegation was Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and CEO of Bharti Enterprises Ltd., India's largest mobile phone operator. The U.S. officials who the group met with included Lawrence Summers, director of the National Economic Council (NEC) and assistant to for economic policy.

In India, to that country's IT services industry. The during the federal government's 2008 fiscal year are all India-based services firms. And after an earlier visit to the U.S., officials from India's top IT trade group, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), called the set by Congress on financial services firms that receive federal bailout funds an issue of

In last week's visit, Mittal was representing the Confederation of Indian Industry, whose affiliate members include Nasscom. According to the Indian press reports about the trip, Mittal characterized the delegation's meeting with Summers as "positive."

The Obama administration has yet to outline its plans for the H-1B program, but the White House has given some signals that it might support an increase in the annual visa cap - primarily via the appointments of officials who have advocated cap increases in the past, such as , the former governor of Arizona and now secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

And in meeting with Summers, the delegation from India found itself within the White House organization that may be most likely to support an H-1B increase. One of the NEC's deputy directors is , an Obama appointee who has been a strong supporter of offshore outsourcing. Prior to taking her job at the NEC, Farrell was a director at management consulting firm McKinsey & Co., which has argued in reports - some authored by Farrell - that offshore outsourcing creates savings that are reinvested by companies.