The NIFTY IT index experienced significant selling pressure on Tuesday, falling 1.7% to an intraday low of 28,332.15 points as investors focused on elevated US Treasury yields and capital outflow from emerging markets. According to latest NSE data, the sectoral benchmark index was down 1.2% at 28,484 points as of 12:54 pm IST on Tuesday, September 22. The decline follows the Trump administration's extension of H-1B visa payment norms, with seven out of 10 stocks listed on the NIFTY IT trading lower. On a year-on-year basis, the NIFTY IT index has tumbled 22%, while for the six-month period, it has slipped 2%.
On Friday, September 21, the White House announced that President Donald Trump has extended the requirement for a $100,000 payment for certain H-1B visa petitions by a year. As reported by The Economic Times, Trump stated in a presidential proclamation that the 2025 measure imposing the $100,000 payment had led to a 92% decrease in H-1B registrations by large IT outsourcing firms. The administration also issued a separate order to tighten scrutiny of H-1B visa applications by directing US agencies to consider recent or planned layoffs of similarly situated American workers when reviewing applications.
The latest decline in IT stocks is attributed to a sharp surge in US Treasury yields, with the 30-year US Treasury bond yield reaching its highest level since 2004, surging as high as 5.5016%. The yield on the benchmark US 10-year Treasury note was up 7.1 basis points at 5.185%, rising as high as 5.2251%, a fresh 19-year high. The US 7-year yield rose up 8 basis points to 5.133%. Beyond US bond yields, geopolitical tensions in West Asia are building pressure, with US President Donald Trump stating the need to shift Middle East energy infrastructure away from Iranian checkpoints. As per ET Now, the higher yields make equities less attractive, prompting widespread selling across domestic tech stocks.
Among the major IT stocks, Infosys led the decline with a 2.2% drop to ₹991.60, followed by TCS at 1.3% to ₹2,106, Wipro at 1.8%, HCL Tech at 3.1% to ₹1,263, and Tech Mahindra at 1.7% to ₹1,539. Persistent Systems declined 1.6% to ₹5,364, while Mphasis fell 1.8% to ₹2,270. However, Coforge gained 1.6% to ₹1,807, showing some resilience in the current market conditions. Oracle Financial Services Software held the last spot in the NIFTY IT index.
According to Vipin Kumar, Assistant Vice President of Equity Research at Globe Capital Market, Nifty 50 continued its downward move towards 23,000 amid the sharp spike in US bond yields and crude oil prices. "The chart structure remains negative as long as the index trades below the 23,500–23,600 zone on a closing basis. Price support is placed around the 23,100–23,000 levels on the downside, and a decisive close below this zone would be considered a negative development that could drag the index lower towards 22,500–22,400 in the near term," Kumar said. Despite the IT sector's decline, most other sectoral indices were trading in the green, with the benchmark indexes Nifty 50 and Sensex opening on a flat note after seeing a significant fall.
