Coforge, TCS, and Wipro are among the eight constituents of the Nifty IT index that have lost up to 10% of their value in September so far, with the majority of the decline occurring last week amid multiple headwinds that made these stocks unattractive to the Street and weighed on overall market sentiment.
Coforge emerged as the worst performer, falling 10% to ₹1,552 apiece, followed by Persistent Systems, TCS, and Tech Mahindra, which have dropped between 5% and 8.2%. Other stocks, including Mphasis, Wipro, HCL Technologies, and Infosys, also fell up to 4%.
Despite the sharp declines across the sector, two stocks, Oracle Financial Services and LTIMindtree, remained in positive territory, posting gains of over 1%.
Nifty IT on track to post third monthly drop
The Nifty IT index extends its losing streak for the seventh consecutive session on Monday, September 29, though the decline was relatively modest compared to last week’s average daily drop of 1.62%. The index closed with a marginal dip of 0.03% at 33,693 points.
IT stocks emerged as the biggest casualties last week, with all constituents of the Nifty IT index losing over 5%, resulting in the index losing nearly 8%, its biggest weekly drop since February.
The latest slide has dragged the index down 4.23% so far in September, making it one of the worst-performing sectoral indexes, and with the index likely to close the month in the red, it would mark the third consecutive decline.
Year-to-date, the index has lost 22.5%. If the pressure on tech stocks persists through year-end, this would mark the index’s first annual decline since 2022. Moreover, a drop of over 26% would represent its steepest yearly fall since 2008.
H-1B visa fee hike triggered a sharp crash
Investor sentiment turned cautious after the fee hike for new H-1B visas announced by the White House, which was further compounded by weak FY26 guidance from Accenture and mixed signals from US Federal Reserve officials on potential rate cuts, keeping the tech stocks under pressure throughout the week.
“The Trump administration’s new H-1B visa restrictions, imposing a $100,000 annual fee, escalate US protectionism, targeting India’s IT sector and threatening its $190 billion services export industry. This move, coupled with broader trade tensions, risks reshaping US-India economic ties and India’s macro-financial stability,” said domestic brokerage firm Systematix Institutional Equities.
Recent concerns only add to existing challenges, including persistent macroeconomic pressures, delayed project ramp-ups, and subdued discretionary spending, fueling expectations that muted performance could extend into the coming quarters of FY26. These headwinds have already triggered significant FPI outflows from the sector.
In the June quarter, nine of the 10 constituents of the Nifty IT index saw a drop in the FPIs holdings.
Indian IT majors had begun the year with optimism over pro-growth policies from the Trump administration, but a series of tariff-related announcements, culminating in the latest H-1B visa fee hikes, have prompted investors to retreat from the sector.
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