IT rout extends to third straight day: Infosys, TCS, other IT stocks fall up to 6%; here's why- Grow Mudra

IT rout extends to third straight day: Infosys, TCS, other IT stocks fall up to 6%; here's why

13 Feb , 2026 By : Debdeep Gupta

The IT index fell for its third straight session on February 13 by declining a whopping 5% on intensifying fears of AI-driven automation disrupting Indian IT's labour-intensive business model. It declined 5.5% on February 12.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index fell more than 2% on Thursday ahead of US inflation data, due later on Friday, which could influence the future path of rates.

Stronger-than-expected US jobs data in January has dented expectations of a near-term rate cut.

"The sharp correction in the IT pack has temporarily put bulls on the backfoot," said Ajit Mishra, senior vice president of research at Religare Broking.

"Sentiment has weakened as traders react to heavy selling in IT stocks amid global volatility," Mishra said.

The sectoral index is down 17.5% so far in 2026.

10-member Nifty IT index declined 4.75% on February 13, extending weekly losses to 10.8%. The IT index is set for worst week since March 2020.

Indian IT sell-off started on February 4 after Anthropic announced a new AI tool.

Heavyweights Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and HCLTech were biggest drags on Friday, down 4.88%, 6.28%, and 4.66%, respectively.

Asian shares retreated from record highs on Friday as worries about shrinking margins in the tech sector hit the likes of Apple.

On Thursday, hopes of a rate cut in the US faded after job growth unexpectedly accelerated in January and unemployment rate fell, leaving the Federal Reserve room to keep interest rates unchanged for some time. That weighed on the IT firms' shares, which count the world's largest economy as one of their biggest markets.

Rate cuts are seen as a key lever for lifting demand for IT spending that has largely been muted.

Anthropic also launched an upgraded version of its Claude artificial intelligence model that can work on tasks for longer and more reliably, while showing gains related to coding and finance. That compounded fears that software companies are increasingly vulnerable to disruption as tools such as Claude automate routine tasks.