IT stocks drop after reports US Congress to vote on bill proposing doubling of visa fees

Share of six IT companies dropped by 0.01% to 1.35% at 14:20 IST on BSE after reports suggested that a bill proposing doubling of visa fees on highly skilled foreign workers will come up for vote in the US Congress today, 18 December 2015.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 165.09 points or 0.64% at 25,638.69.

Among IT stocks, Infosys (down 1.35%), TCS (down 0.83%), Tech Mahindra (down 0.92%), Wipro (down 0.01%), HCL Technologies (down 0.34%) and Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.01%) edged lower.

The BSE IT index had outperformed the market over the past one month till 17 December 2015, rising 2.9% compared with Sensex's 0.23% fall. The index had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, declining 0.51% as against Sensex's 0.62% fall.

US Congress is set to pass a Bill that will effectively double the fees for H1B and L1 visas to $4,000 and $4,500, according to media reports. Investors are concerned that companies in the US relying on highly skilled foreign workers will have to pay more for their visas. A move of hiking fees could cost the IT industry close to $400 million, report added

H-1B visas and L-1 visas are used by the IT companies for intra company transfers of their employees. These were adopted by the US in August 2010. The fees were valid for five years and were not renewed after they lapsed in September 2015, report said.

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