Indian IT Stocks Tumble As Trump Imposes $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas

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Shares of TCS, Infosys, Wipro, and others slump as Trump’s immigration order rattles India’s tech industry

IT stocks fell sharply on Monday after US President Donald Trump signed an order imposing a hefty $100,000 annual fee on new H-1B visa applications. The move, pitched as part of Washington’s immigration crackdown, threatens the long-standing business model of India’s $283 billion IT services industry, which draws more than half its revenue from American clients.

Shares of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro, and HCLTech all dropped around 2–3%. Tech Mahindra plunged as much as 6.5%, while Persistent Systems was the steepest loser on the sub-index, down 4%. Cognizant, which is heavily reliant on H-1B visas, tumbled 4.75% on Nasdaq.

A $1.3 billion Hit

The new order effectively raises visa costs for Indian IT companies from roughly $13.4 million to $1.34 billion. According to analysts, this amounts to about 10% of the combined net profits of leading firms, including TCS, Infosys, HCLTech, Cognizant, and LTIMindtree in FY25.

Nuvama, a financial company, said in a note to investors,

“The higher fee makes the H-1B visa economically unviable for most IT services companies. They will have to renegotiate contracts with clients or switch to more local hiring in the US,”

Motilal Oswal argued that a shift away from on-site work could even lift margins, as offshore work is structurally more profitable. JM Financial, however, estimated that replacing H-1B hires with US staff could dent margins by 15–50 basis points, given higher local wage costs.

Beyond Indian firms

While Indian IT vendors are expected to cut back on new filings and lean more on offshore delivery. Analysts noted that US tech giants like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta, which file far more fresh petitions, may feel the heat too.

With IT stocks already down 15.6% this year against a 7.1% rise in the benchmark Nifty 50, Monday’s sell-off adds to the sector’s rough run and underscores how sensitive it remains to US immigration policy.