In today's stock market trade, the indices are trading sharply lower. Among them, large IT stocks Tata Consultancy services Ltd (TCS), Infosys Ltd, wipro Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd, and Tech mahindra Ltd traded lower in Tuesday's trade, especially ahead of the US elections. Investors are paying close attention to the results of today's US presidential election, as employment-based change will have implications for the future. donald trump, the Republican candidate for the US presidential election, is said to win a second term. He already increased restrictions on H-1B visas during his first term through Executive Order EO13788 to keep Americans and hire Americans. Thus, denial rates for H-1B/L-1 visas rose significantly during Trump's administration, and the impact on domestic IT services firms increased due to their increased reliance on these visas at the time. But that could be different in the near future, said brokerage JM Financial. JM Financial added that IT firms accounted for two-thirds of US sources on H-1B/L-1 visas in FY 2017, down from 50-80 percent of H-1B visa approvals for Infosys, tcs, and wipro in FY 2015-24.
As part of Trump's expansionary fiscal policy, the reduction of the corporate tax rate for domestic production from 21 percent to 15 percent is said to be favorable to demand for IT services as it eases budget pressures. Likewise, wipro announced that 69 percent of its global workforce was localized in fiscal 2020. Another impact would be a significant increase in wage obligations for H-1B visas if trump returns to power, and the trump administration is said to be attempting this through the Department of Labor's (DOL) Interim Final Rule (IFR) in october 2020 and january 2021. Based on an analysis of IT firms, the average wages for H-1B sources today are 25 percent higher than the prevailing wage, and claims by H-1B workers are difficult to trace to displacing U.S. workers due to low wages. From january 20, 2017, to january 20, 2021, during Trump's first term, IT stocks delivered outstanding returns. Accordingly, tcs rose 189 percent, followed by Infosys 182 percent, wipro 148 percent, HCL Tech 138 percent, and Tech mahindra 117 percent, according to Ace Equity, available on corporate data. Likewise, some midcap and smallcap IT stocks such as Mastech Ltd, Coforge Ltd, and Tata XLC rose as much as 500 percent over the four-year period. Currently, there are three bills related to employment-based immigration that are currently being tabled in the US Congress, and these bills aim to protect American workers.
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