IT stocks plunged over 4 per cent
today, knocking off more than Rs 33,000 crore in market
valuation of top five firms, after a new H1-B Bill in the US
set off concerns that it will adversely impact hiring plans of
Indian technology firms.
TCS slumped by as much as 4.47 per cent to settle at Rs
2,229.90 on BSE. Intra-day, the stock had hit a low of Rs
2,206.55.
Infosys lost 2.01 per cent to close at Rs 905. During the
day, it had fallen to a low of Rs 905.
Wipro came in at Rs 457.10, 1.62 per cent lower than its
previous close. It tumbled to Rs 445.55 at one point.
Tech Mahindra went down as much as 4.23 per cent to close
at Rs 451.75 and HCL Technologies declined 3.67 per cent to Rs
808.85.
Taken together, these five saw an erosion of over Rs
33,000 crore in their market capitalisation.
The BSE IT index, a benchmark of IT stocks, fell 2.96 per
cent to settle at 9,586.34.
In addition, Mastek dropped 3.68 per cent, Mindtree 3.27
per cent and Mphasis 3.34 per cent.
According to experts, US President Donald Trump plans to
overhaul work-visa programmes that dampened investor mood.
A legislation has been introduced in the US House of
Representatives which among other things calls for more than
doubling the minimum salary of H-1B visa holders to USD
1,30,000, making it difficult for firms to use the programme
to replace American employees with foreign workers, including
from India.
“Hike in H-1B visa cost will have significant impact on
the financials… as Indian companies are major users of H-1B
visa though they form very less part of the overall workforce
(around 11-15 per cent),” Angel Broking said in a report.
“Depending on the companies, they could easily witness
around 60-70 per cent rise in the salaries of the H-1B visa
dependent workforce and hence have significant impact on the
net profit of the companies,” it added.
H1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to
employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require
theoretical or technical expertise in specialised fields. The
technology companies go for it to hire tens of thousands of
employees each year.
(This article has not been edited by DNA’s editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
Source: dnaindia.com