New Delhi, Oct. 28 -- Homegrown information technology (IT) services companies' strategy of servicing US clients from offshore locations to offset the impact of the H-1B visa fee hike is, in fact, boosting their operating margins.

Five of the country's 13 large IT solutions providers-Infosys Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd, Tech Mahindra Ltd, Persistent Systems Ltd, and L&T Technology Services Ltd (LTTS)-have cited offshoring and nearshoring as one of the reasons for improved operating margins in the September quarter and expect it to continue to do so in the future.

Higher offshoring or nearshoring helps boost margins by lowering employee costs, particularly salaries. While offshoring involves relocating work to countries farther from a clie...