Tech stocks tumble on trade war fear: Mphasis, TCS, Infosys among top losers

India’s major IT companies share tumbled on Friday, February 28, as market participants remained concerned over a slowing US economy, rising inflation expectations, and trade war fear fuelled by Trump’s tariffs.

US President Donald Trump plans to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting March 4, 2025, in addition to doubling the 10% universal tariff charged on imports from China.

The Nifty Information Technology (IT) index tumbled over 4% during the intraday trade on Friday. At 1:17 PM, the sector was trading at 37,318.95 levels, plunging 4.18%.

However, Moody's Ratings said that India has a lower overall exposure to the US relative to others in the APAC region, although certain sectors such as food, textiles and pharmaceutical products face risks. It said most companies in its rated portfolio are domestic focused with limited exposure to the US market.

Mphasis, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Persistent Systems, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HCL Technologies, L&T Technology Services (LTTS), LTIMindtree and Coforge were the biggest laggards in the Nifty IT sector.

Year-to-date, the Nifty IT index has declined 6.81%. However, over a year, the index has advanced 0.80%.

Among the sector, shares of IT behemoth TCS dropped as much as 4.3% on Friday to hit their 52-week low of ₹3,457 apiece on the NSE. This marks the fourth straight session of decline for the TCS stock. The share price has fallen more than 15% in the past month as worries mount over the imminent trade war.

Mphasis is the biggest laggard among the sector, tanking 5.78% followed by Tech Mahindra (5.64%), Wipro (5.21%), Persistent Systems (4.83%) and Infosys (4%).