Stock markets decline in early trade dragged by IT firms on U.S. H-1B visa fee hike concerns

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty dropped in early trade on Monday (September 22, 2025), dragged by IT stocks amid concerns over the U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to raise H-1B visa fees to $100,000 per worker.

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.

From the Sensex firms, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Tech and Tata Consultancy Services were trading lower in the range of 3.88 to 2.26%.

Sun Pharma, Bharat Electronics, Axis Bank and Tata Steel were also among the laggards.

However, Adani Ports, Eternal, Trent and Bajaj Finance were among the gainers.

President 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).

“The market is likely to witness a dualistic behaviour today with the IT sector getting impacted by the H-1B visa issue and the domestic consumption themes responding to the potential big boost to consumption coming from the lower GST rates kicking in from today,” V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index and Shanghai’s SSE Composite index traded in positive territory while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng quoted lower.

U.S. markets ended higher on Friday (September 19, 2025).

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.66% to $67.12 a barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹390.74 crore on Friday (September 19, 2025), according to exchange data.

On Friday (September 19, 2025), the Sensex tanked 387.73 points or 0.47% to settle at 82,626.23. The Nifty declined 96.55 points or 0.38% to 25,327.05.