The American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) of Infosys and Wipro slumped around 3% each in Thursday’s trade after US President Donald Trump’s administration suspended these firms from the Permanent Labour Certification Programme, which allows companies to apply for green cards for H-1B visa workers.
Along with these two, other domestic tech firms such as Tata and HCL Tech, as well as US-based firms with a large presence in India, including Cognizant, Capgemini, Microsoft and Adobe, were also on the list.
The announcement was made by US Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling, with Vice President JD Vance, the head of the US Anti-Fraud Task Force, by his side.
“I am hereby suspending from the Permanent Labour Certification Programme some of the largest IT outsourcing firms in the world, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini,” Sonderling said.
India’s $300 billion IT sector, which derives about 57% of its revenue from the US, has long benefited from US work visa programmes and the outsourcing of software and business services.