Indian IT stocks slide on US visa crackdown

Sept 22 (Reuters) - Indian information technology stocks .NIFTYIT fell on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications, threatening the sector's long-standing model of rotating skilled workers through the U.S.

On Friday, Trump said companies would have to pay higher fees for H-1B worker visas. Last year, 71% of approved H-1B beneficiaries were Indians.

The tech sub-index was down 2.6%, pulling back from an initial drop of nearly 4% after Indian IT industry body Nasscom said the U.S. had clarified that the higher fees will only apply to new H-1B applications.

Initial confusion resulted in H-1B visa holders rushing back to the U.S. fearing they would be barred from re-entry once the new rule took effect, tech workers told Reuters.

The U.S.-listed shares of Infosys and Wipro fell 3.4% and 2.1%, respectively, on Friday.

All 10 stocks on the tech sub-index declined on Monday, led by Persistent Systems PERS.NS at 4%. IT majors TCS TCS.NS, Wipro WIPR.NS and Infosys INFY.NS were down about 2% each.

India's $283 billion IT sector, which generates about 57% of revenue from the U.S., has long benefited from U.S. work visa programmes and the outsourcing of software and business services.

Trump's order "is among the last things that the sector sentiment needed, amid persistent pressure weighing on growth from geopolitical and macro uncertainties and structural concerns caused by GenAI," said analysts at TD Cowen.

IT stocks are the worst performers so far this year, falling 15.6% versus a 7.1% gain in the benchmark Nifty 50 index.