IT stocks selloff: The selloff in IT stocks showed no signs of abating as the index declined for the fifth day in a row on Tuesday, February 24, amid persistent fears of AI-driven disruption.
The Nifty IT index tanked 3.5% to a fresh 52-week low of 30,417.75, taking the month-to-date decline to 20%. As of yesterday’s close, the IT pack has lost ₹5.05 lakh crore in market capitalisation, according to data from Capitaline.
All Nifty IT constituents traded in the red, falling up to 4%. Persistent Systems, HCL Technologies and Coforge shares were the biggest losers, shedding over 4% each. Meanwhile, Infosys’ share price declined 3.7%, TCS’ shares 3.5% and Wipro’s stock 2.9%.
Amid persistent fears of AI-led disruption, IT stocks have cracked up to 24% in a month.
Why are IT stocks falling?
Selling pressure in IT stocks began earlier this month following the launch of Anthropic’s Claude, which is seen disrupting several industries, including India’s tech services sector.
On Monday, Anthropic announced that Claude Code could automate much of the exploration and analysis that drives the complexity of COBOL modernisation, sending IBM stock 13% lower.
HSBC Global Investment Research was quoted as saying by Reuters that there could be a 14%-16% gross deflationary risk from AI over the next few years to the overall IT sector revenues.