By Siddhartha Khemka – Head of Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd

Indian equities slipped on Monday, weighed down by negative sentiment after U.S. President Donald Trump’s new H-1B visa fee rule. Nifty50 settled at 25,202, down 125 points (-0.5%), with broad-based weakness across sectors. The Nifty Midcap100 fell 0.7%, while the Smallcap100 declined 1.2%. Sectorally, most indices ended in the red. Pharma came under pressure, down 1.4%, while IT was the biggest drag, tumbling 3% after the U.S. sharply raised the one-time H-1B visa fee to $100,000 (~₹88 lakh). This rattled sentiment in a sector that had only recently shown signs of recovery. IT services are seeing slower growth for now as companies spend more on AI hardware, but demand is expected to pick up once technology stabilizes and adoption becomes wider. Looking ahead, focus will be on Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s visit to the U.S. on September 22 for trade deal negotiations—the first since the Trump administration imposed 50% tariffs. After the recent run-up, equities are likely to consolidate, tracking developments on this front.

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