India, Oct. 11 -- Indian IT companies facing suspension from the US permanent labour certification programme have made fewer applications for green cards this year, indicating that the action may not have a significant impact on their functioning.

The US on Thursday suspended eight IT firms, including Indian tech giants Tata, Infosys, Wipro and HCL, from a programme to apply for green cards for foreign workers, contending that the practice has shut out Americans from the job market. The other companies were Capgemini, Cognizant, Microsoft and Adobe, which hire a significant number of professionals from India.

An analysis of Permanent Labour Certification (PERM) applications shows that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) filed just two appli...