Indian IT Stocks Plunge Up to 7% as Anthropic's AI Tool Sparks Global Selloff Fears

Indian IT majors led a sharp decline on Dalal Street on February 4, 2026, with the Nifty IT index tumbling around 6% in early trade—the sector's worst performance in recent years—dragged down by heavyweight stocks amid renewed global concerns over AI disruption. The selloff mirrored overnight losses in US and European software and data services stocks, triggered by AI startup Anthropic's launch of advanced plug-ins for its Claude Cowork agent. These tools automate complex tasks in legal, sales, marketing, and data analysis—areas where India's labour-intensive IT services sector has long thrived by deploying large workforces for client projects. Infosys led the declines, plunging over 7% to trade around ₹1,538–1,540 levels in morning sessions.

ancy Services (TCS) dropped nearly 6%, while hnologies fell about 5%. o declined around 4%. Mid-tier players faced even steeper losses: Persistent Systems, LTIMindtree, and Coforge crashed nearly 7% each, with Mphasis and Tech Mahindra down more than 6%. Info Edge (parent of ***** also slipped around 6%, reflecting broader worries about job market softness in the industry. The Nifty IT index, tracking the sector's performance, was the top loser among sectoral indices, shedding over 5-6% intraday and pressuring benchmark Sensex and Nifty, which traded mixed to lower. Analysts noted that India's $283 billion IT export industry remains vulnerable to AI automation, as clients increasingly adopt tools that could reduce reliance on outsourced manpower. The rout wiped out substantial market value from major IT firms in early trade.