By Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M
(Reuters) -India’s equity benchmarks fell on Wednesday, dragged down by information technology stocks as investors assessed the impact of U.S. visa curbs, while persistent foreign outflows and lingering valuation concerns kept sentiment subdued.
The Nifty 50 lost 0.43% to 25,057.75 and the BSE Sensex shed 0.45% to 81,729.17 as of 9:45 a.m. IST.
Fifteen of the 16 major sectors logged losses at open. The broader small-caps and mid-caps lost about 0.2% and 0.5%, respectively.
The 50-stock Nifty has lost 1% in the last three sessions, with IT stocks driving this week’s sell-off after the U.S. imposed a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visa applications.
The U.S. released a proposal on Tuesday that would rework the H-1B visa selection process to favour higher-skilled and better-paid workers. Indians made up 71% of approved H-1B beneficiaries last year.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) led Tuesday’s selloff, offloading shares worth 35.51 billion rupees ($399.9 million), per provisional data. This was their biggest single-day sale in India in September.
“The market is under pressure and the tone is cautious as the recent policy noise, notably the U.S. visa reforms is keeping investors wary,” said Amruta Shinde, technical and research analyst at Choice Broking.
The IT index fell 0.9%, topping sectoral losses. Autos lost 0.5%, easing from record highs hit on Tuesday.
Among individual stocks, Ashok Leyland lost 2.6% after Goldman Sachs downgraded it to “neutral” from “buy”, citing limited upside after the recent rally.
Stock gained 18.1% since August 15 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi signalled cuts to Goods and Services Tax rates.
Minda Corporation gained 7.5% after projecting 3.5x growth in revenue by fiscal 2030 from fiscal 2025.
Sri Lotus Developers jumped 5.2% after Motilal Oswal initiated coverage with “buy”, terming the company a proxy to Mumbai’s redevelopment story.
($1 = 88.7880 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Janane Venkatraman)
