MFs lose Rs 13,000 crore in IT sell-off after Trump’s H-1B visa shock

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Mutual funds lost nearly Rs 13,000 crore in market value across India’s top 10 IT firms after a sharp sell-off triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump after signed a proclamation on Friday (September 19, 2025). This proclamation was on raising the fee for H-1B visas to a staggering USD 100,000 annually, the latest in the administration’s efforts to crack down on immigration.

The move, seen as a direct hit to profitability and hiring strategies, rattled investors and shaved off a chunk of IT sector valuations.

As of September 19, mutual funds held shares worth Rs 3.41 lakh crore in the top 10 IT companies by market capitalisation. By the opening on September 22, this had slipped to Rs 3.28 lakh crore.

Infosys remains the largest holding at Rs 1.27 lakh crore, followed by TCS at Rs 62,000 crore and HCL Tech at Rs 35,850 crore. Other major exposures include Coforge (Rs 21,720 crore), Persistent Systems (Rs 18,900 crore), Mphasis (Rs 13,240 crore), Wipro (Rs 11,600 crore), LTIMindtree (Rs 8,189 crore) and Oracle Financial Services (Rs 4,348 crore).

Trump’s order raises the annual H-1B visa application fee from $1,000 to $100,000 per applicant, a 100-fold increase. While the process of sponsoring skilled foreign workers remains unchanged, the higher costs are expected to reshape hiring economics. The first material impact is likely in FY27, when fresh petitions are filed.

JM Financial, in a note, said the move is “margin neutral” in the immediate sense, though second-order effects like wage inflation in the local talent pool could pressure margins by 15-50 basis points if higher local hiring occurs without offsets. However, greater offshoring and price renegotiations could fully neutralise the impact.

The brokerage added that top-10 IT players have just 1.2-4.1 percent of their workforce on H-1B visas, limiting the scale of disruption. “With one of the biggest regulatory overhangs now behind, this event is net positive in our view,” JM Financial said.