Indian IT stocks tumble $68.6B on AI fears
Indian shares have lagged their regional peers in February, hit by a $68.6 billion rout in information technology stocks as investors worry about disruptions from artificial intelligence.
The Nifty 50 has risen 0.4% this month, while the Sensex edged 0.1% lower, underperforming both the MSCI Asia ex-Japan and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
The selloff in IT stocks, which make up roughly 11% of the blue-chip index, has been severe. The Nifty IT is down 21% in February, on track for its worst monthly performance in nearly 23 years. All 10 index constituents have dropped between 16.8% and 27%. Coforge fell 26.8%, while Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys lost $21.9 billion and $16.3 billion in market value, respectively.
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Analysts say the rout reflects fears that AI-driven automation from U.S. firms such as Anthropic and Palantir could compress project timelines, reduce billable hours, and disrupt India’s $300-billion IT services industry. Brokerages warn that revenue from application services, which represents 40–70% of IT companies’ income, could face further pressure.
“AI’s impact on IT and broader sectors is causing strong short-term investor caution,” said Abhishek Pathak of Motilal Oswal.
The slump has also accelerated foreign selling. While foreign portfolio investors have generally bought Indian stocks in February, they pulled out about 110 billion rupees ($1.21 billion) from IT stocks in the first half of the month, continuing the trend from 2025’s record net selling.
By Aysel Mammadzada
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