Indian Tech Stocks Tumble Nearly 3% After Trump’s $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee Hits IT Sector
Indian technology stocks slid sharply on Monday, falling almost 3%, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a steep new $100,000 fee for each H-1B visa application. The visa category, which is primarily used by high-skilled foreign workers in the U.S., has been a lifeline for India’s massive IT industry. Nearly 400,000 H-1B visas were issued in 2024, and 71% of them went to Indian nationals — making the sudden cost increase a major blow to the country’s outsourcing giants.
Nine of the ten Indian IT firms listed on the Nifty IT sub-index were trading lower by mid-day. Losses were led by Mphasis, down more than 4%, Persistent Systems, which slipped 3.8%, and LTIMindtree, which fell 3.79%. The broader Nifty 50 benchmark inched down 0.12%, while the Sensex shed 0.48%, underlining investor jitters about how higher visa costs could dent future growth.
Analysts warn the fee hike could force Indian companies to rethink their staffing models. “This would lead to a decline in the headline revenue that these IT majors generate because offshoring is a high-margin but low-revenue activity,” said Manishi Raychaudhuri, CEO of Emmer Capital Partners, on CNBC’s Inside India. He estimated a near-term hit of 2% to 4% to earnings, a forecast that appears to be reflected in Monday’s trading losses.
While IT stocks fell, other parts of the Indian market saw bright spots. Adani Power surged more than 15% after its five-for-one stock split took effect, a move designed to make shares more affordable and improve liquidity. The thermal power company’s rally stood out in a mostly muted session for Indian equities.
Asian markets were mixed as investors weighed global monetary policy shifts. China’s CSI 300 rose 0.46% after the People’s Bank of China held its loan prime rates steady for a fourth straight month. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.99%, while South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.68%, boosted by a 4% jump in Samsung Electronics after reports of Nvidia’s approval of its latest high-bandwidth memory chip. Meanwhile, U.S. equity futures traded flat after last week’s record highs for the Dow Jones and S&P 500 following the Federal Reserve’s rate cut.
source: cnbc