Domestic equity benchmarks registered sharp losses on Monday, falling for a second straight day, amid a sell-off in IT stocks following the US government’s move to hike a new H-1B visa fee to $100,000 from $2,000-$5,000 with effect from September 21. Analysts say that the development will force Indian IT companies to overhaul their age-old strategy of rotating skilled talent into American projects.
Both headline indices fell 0.6 per cent for the day. The Sensex lost 466.3 points to end at 82,160 while the Nifty50 gave up 124.7 points to settle at 25,202.4.Â
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IT stocks dominated Dalal Street in Monday’s trade, preventing main gauges from making it to the green. The domestic IT sector earngs nearly two-thirds of its revenue from the US market. Seven in every 10 H-1B visa applicants are from India, show official figures.Â
The Donald Trump 2.0 administration’s move is aimed at protecting American jobs, in line with the Republicans’ ‘America first’ election campaign.
