The companies will get what they pay for.

Cheap labor will drive down the salaries, but not way down.

Here are some things they have not considered:

a. The loyalty of a non-citizen, guest worker. Granted, IT folks are sometimes gypsies, but I'd rather cast my lot with a worker who is a US citizen than one from Bombay or elsewhere.

b. These workers who are working for crumbs now will leave, just like any worker who is underpaid. Sure, $18K is a lot more than they'd earn in their home country, but they'll get greedy like the rest of us.

c. Indian programmers tend to come with shady references and work history. The good ones in the lot won't stay(see b.), and the bad ones will be sent home in a revolving door. I've seen it happen.

This issue has come up before on this board, and the general consensus at the time was to ridicule it as xenophobic and silly. I guess that's only because the critics either don't have affected jobs, or they are completely ignorant(that never happens here).