By Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M
(Reuters) -India’s equity benchmarks inched lower in early trade on Tuesday on broad-based losses due to concerns over the impact of steep H-1B visa fees, while gains in auto stocks from strong festive-season demand capped losses.
The Nifty 50 was down 0.33% at 25,117.8 points, while the BSE Sensex lost 0.32% to 81,889.71, as of 10:22 a.m. IST.
Fifteen of the 16 major sectors logged losses. The broader small-caps and mid-caps traded 0.5% lower each.
Stocks of information technology firms, which earn a bulk of their revenue from the U.S., slid 0.6%, extending Monday’s 3% sell-off.
There is a bearish tone in the markets after the new H-1B visa fees as the move is likely to disrupt the Indian IT outsourcing model, said Hariprasad K, research analyst and founder at Livelong Wealth.
Indians made up 71% of approved H-1B beneficiaries last year.
Bucking the trend, the auto index jumped 1% to hit a record high, following reports of strong footfalls across dealerships on Monday, the first day of the local festival Navratri, which coincided with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) cuts kicking in.
Three of the top five gains on the Nifty 50 were all auto companies. India’s largest automaker, Maruti Suzuki India, topped the list with a 2.2% rise, hitting a lifetime high.
Mahindra & Mahindra rose 1% and Eicher Motors added 1.4%.
Auto firms passing the GST cuts on to customers is likely to increase volumes in the passenger vehicle industry, helping sustain momentum in fiscal 2026, said ICICI Securities.
Among other stocks, KEC International surged 7.7% after securing orders worth 32.43 billion rupees ($366.6 million) in its international transmission and distribution business.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
