India is a source of cheap highly skilled manpower

Software professionals will be provided escorts who will guide them on visa regulations.

The move comes after recent arrests of Indian software workers in the Netherlands and Malaysia, allegedly for visa irregularities.

Both incidents sparked outrage in India and led to a strong reaction from the government.

Now the Indian Information Technology ministry says it will make sure that software professionals comply with visa procedures when working abroad.

"Our ministry will work with the industry on what the visa requirements are in different countries and tell them to obey scrupulously," Indian IT Minister Arun Shourie said.

Deported

The BBC's Habib Beary in Bangalore says many Indian IT firms see the Netherlands detentions as a backlash against job losses in the software industry in Europe.

Most companies in Europe and the United States outsource software work from India because of the availability of highly skilled manpower at lower costs.

"India's IT is a house set on a hill. So many people would want to get rid of us," Mr Shourie said.

Last week, more than a dozen employees of Indian IT firm, I-Flex Solutions, were asked to leave the Netherlands after being questioned over alleged visa irregularities.

An Indian spokesman said then that the action was unjustified since they had valid visas.

Earlier in March, Malaysian authorities detained 270 Indian IT workers in Kuala Lumpur over similar charges.