IT stocks tumble on U.S. H-1B visa fee hike concerns

IT stocks dropped in morning trade on Monday (September 22, 2025), with Tech Mahindra tumbling over 6%, amid concerns over the steep hike in US H-1B visa fees.

Shares of Tech Mahindra tumbled 6.45%, LTI Mindtree slumped 5.61%t, Persistent Systems dropped 5.51%, Hexaware Technologies tanked 5.14% and HCL Tech fell by 4.24% on the BSE.

The stock of Infosys edged lower by 3.91%, Wipro declined 3.51% and Tata Consultancy Services dipped 3.36%.

The BSE IT index traded lower by 2.20% to 35,177.15.

The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 475.16 points to 82,151.07 in opening trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty declined 88.95 points to 25,238.10.

Later, both the benchmarks recovered most of their early lost ground and were trading marginally lower.

“The Nifty-50 opened with a gap-down, as aggressive selling in frontline IT stocks — triggered by the steep hike in U.S. H-1B visa fees — sparked profit-taking and caution after a strong three-week rally,” Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, an online trading and wealth tech firm, said.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday (September 19, 2025) signed a proclamation raising the fee on the visas used by companies to hire workers, including from India, to live and work in the U.S.

The H-1B visa fee of $100,000 would be applicable only to new applicants, a White House official clarified on Saturday (September 20, 2025).

Notably, Indian tech professionals account for bulk of H-1Bs, over 70% plus.