New Delhi, Sept. 29 -- The Nifty IT index has corrected nearly 8% since 19 September, following the hike in H1-B visa fees by the US. Each such visa will now cost companies an additional $100,000. With 24,000 visa applications approved for the top five Indian IT firms in the first half of FY24 alone, the financial impact quickly adds up.

That said, tier-1 IT stocks have held up relatively better, and companies have also found reasonable success with offshoring. Wider margins and deeper pockets have enabled larger firms to scale up US-based hiring, subcontracting, and delivery centres.

As a result, while shares of Persistent Systems Ltd, Mphasis Ltd, and Coforge Ltd have fallen 10-14%, Infosys Ltd and HCL Technologies Ltd have slipped le...