Indian IT Stocks Face US Visa Blockade Alongside Strong TCS Quarterly Results

Shares of top Indian technology companies including Infosys, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Tech, and Persistent Systems are in sharp focus following major regulatory moves in the United States and a positive earnings report from TCS. US authorities have suspended major IT firms from the Permanent Labour Certification Programme, which lets employers seek green cards for workers on H-1B visas. The US administration claims these tech giants used the visa system to undercut American wages after securing hundreds of thousands of certifications over the past decade. While firms can still deploy temporary visa holders, they cannot process pending green card applications or start new ones, effectively blocking the path to permanent residency. US Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling and Vice President JD Vance, who leads the Anti-Fraud Task Force, announced the decision. In recent years, companies have cut reliance on H-1B visas by hiring locally and shifting work to nearby countries. Around 57,000 new H-1B visas were approved for Indian nationals last year, which marks a drop from FY24, and Indians accounted for about half of all new approvals in the previous fiscal year. In September last year, the US also raised the annual fee for new applicants to $100,000. Seema Srivastava, Senior Research Analyst at SMC Global Securities, notes that the sector faces a massive tug-of-war between US regulatory pressure and strong earnings. Anuj Gupta, a SEBI Registered Research Analyst, warns that the visa freeze is negative for IT stocks because major Indian firms get over 50 percent of their revenue from the US market, leaving them vulnerable to changes in American tech spending and margin pressure. Meanwhile, Tata Consultancy Services reported a consolidated net profit of 13,884 crore rupees in the September 2026 quarter, rising over 14 percent from 12,131 crore rupees in the same period last year. On a sequential basis, net profit grew by over 3 percent from 13,420 crore rupees in the previous quarter. Revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2027 reached 73,188 crore rupees, marking year-on-year growth in rupee terms and a 1.3 percent increase over the June quarter. Economic Times also noted the profit rise alongside these events, while mentioning an unrelated downward revenue forecast revision by OpenAI. TCS reported a total contract value of 9.6 billion dollars during the quarter, alongside a five-year strategic partnership with Porsche AG, the acquisition of Porsche's consulting subsidiary MHP, and an agreement to turn Best Buy's Global Capability Centre in India into an AI Capability Centre. The company also declared a dividend of 12 rupees per share and stated that its annualized artificial intelligence revenue run rate has crossed 3.1 billion dollars, making up more than ten percent of total revenue.

Context

Indian technology firms rely heavily on the United States market for a major share of their business earnings, making them sensitive to American immigration rules and visa policies. The H-1B visa and green card programs are key channels for placing Indian tech professionals at client locations abroad. Regulatory changes in these programs directly affect how tech companies manage their workforce and handle operational costs overseas.