More Stories

Informist, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025

MUMBAI – Information technology stocks are expected to continue their downward trend in the near term amid the uncertain macro environment and growing concerns over US policies. Post the US order imposing a hefty one-time fee for H-1B visa applications, the Nifty IT index has corrected around 8%, pricing in any potential impact on earnings.

"Nifty IT is likely to head south towards 33000-32500 spot levels," Vipin Kumar, assistant vice-president of equity research and senior derivatives analyst at Globe Capital Market said. The IT index closed 2.5% lower at 33702 points Friday as stocks continued to face heavy selling amid H-1B visa fee concerns and weak guidance from US IT major Accenture. All constituents of the index closed the day's session in the red, down 2.0–4.4%.  

US President Donald Trump on Sept. 19 announced a hike in H-1B visa fee to $100,000 from the current $2,000–$5,000. Later on Sept. 21, the US government clarified that the $100,000 fee is a one-time payment applicable to those applying for a new H-1B visa and not for visa renewals or for those currently holding a visa. Further on Tuesday, the US' Department of Homeland Security proposed changing the selection process for H-1B visas to wage-based weighted selection from the existing lottery system. The H-1B visa programme allows employers to hire foreign workers temporarily in the US on a non-immigrant basis in speciality occupations or as fashion models of distinguished merit and ability, as per the US Department of Labor's website.

Following this, many mid-sized IT companies clarified that they expect no to minimal impact on their financial performance from the hike in H-1B visa fee as they have continued to reduce their dependency on the H-1B visa. Though most brokerages expect domestic IT companies to be affected by the move in the near-term, the downside is expected to be limited in the long term with Indian IT companies reducing their reliance on H-1B visas over the last decade and starting to hire more local workforce in the US. 

Thursday, Accenture guided for a 2–5% revenue growth in local currency for 2025-26 (Sept-Aug), slower than the 7% growth in revenue at $69.67 billion the previous year. Excluding an estimated 1.0-1.5% impact from its US federal business, the company expects a top line growth of 3-6% for the full year.

The consulting company's revenue for the August quarter grew 7% on year to $17.6 billion in dollar terms and 4.5% in constant currency terms. For FY25, the company reported a revenue of $69.7 billion, up 7% on year in constant currency terms. Accenture's earnings are seen as a crucial indicator for Indian IT companies, which are scheduled to detail September quarter earnings from next month.

Some analysts consider the muted guidance by Accenture as an indication of no improvement in demand outlook or discretionary demand for IT services. However, according to HSBC Global Investment Research, Accenture's FY26 guidance and commentary have a slightly positive read for Indian IT sector. "While the near-term demand environment remains soft and unchanged, FY27e is likely to see pick-up in demand driven by recovery in the US macro and increase in demand from IT companies looking to drive enterprise scale AI adoption," HSBC said. 

TOP HEADLINES

* IPO Alert: CSM Technologies files DRHP for fresh issue of 12.9 mln shares
* Accenture sees sales growth of 2-5% in 2025-26 versus 7% previous year
* IPO Alert: Seshaasai Tech offer subscribed over 68 times as of final day
* iValue Infosolutions shares end 5.7% lower than issue price in debut session
* LTIMindtree launches AI governance framework BlueVerse RightAction
* HCL Tech says co now part of Microsoft AI Business Solutions Inner Circle
* Newgen Software UK arm gets order worth 4.22 mln euros from TCS Belgium
* HC stays order on damages payout by Wipro to former staff in defamation case
* Latent View says don't expect material impact from H-1B visa fee hike on ops
* Happiest Mind says H-1B visa fee hike to have negligible impact on ops
* Infosys extends long-term pact with Switzerland-based Sunrise for IT svcs
* HCL Tech, Sweden-based commercial vehicle maker renew contract
* Mastek co-founder Radhakrishnan gifts 500,000 shares to Hi5 Youth Foundation
* Some impact from H-1B visa fee hike likely on IT cos' margins in FY27
* Small, mid-sized IT cos see minor impact of H-1B visa fee hike on earnings
* Wipro official says more remains to be done on AI, industry in hype cycle
* Netweb Tech gets INR 4.5-bln order to supply accelerated systems
 

Following are the resistance and support levels for key IT stocks for next week as per calculations based on their prices on the National Stock Exchange:

End

Reported by Arya S. Biju

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.