‘Ruh Roh’: Top US official mocks ‘Indian market collapse’ claim after Trump’s IT curbs. But did it? | FACT CHECK

US Inspector General of the United States Department of Labor Anthony D’Esposito on Thursday (Oct 08) reacted with mockery to news of the Indian stock market allegedly collapsing after the Donald Trump administration announced immigration curbs on major IT firms. "Ruh Roh." he said while sharing a post claiming that "The Indian stock market completely COLLAPSED today after the Trump Administration suspended H-1B and foreign labour programs over fraud." But did the Indian share market collapse following the announcement? WION does a fact check.

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US curbs and Indian IT giants

On Thursday, the US put curbs on eight IT firms. The companies named included Indian IT services majors Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro and HCL, alongside France's Capgemini. US technology companies Microsoft and Adobe were also suspended.

US Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling said the companies had collectively sought millions of foreign workers and received hundreds of thousands of H-1B visa approvals and permanent labour certifications. “Since 2009, just these companies alone have requested almost 3 million foreign workers. They received over 230,000 H-1 B visa approvals and over 100,000 permanent labour certifications,” Sonderling said, arguing that the figures represented jobs taken from American workers.

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What happened to Indian stock markets after the announcement?

D’Esposito has gotten a fact check on X itself, with users pointing out in the community notes below the post that the Indian stock market had closed hours before the Trump administration’s October 8 announcement.

On Friday (Oct 09), despite the US announcement, Indian markets opened on a high, with IT stocks witnessing strong buying. According to ANI, the Nifty 50 opened at 22,303.35, gaining 70.55 points or 0.32 per cent, while the BSE Sensex was trading at 71,747.82, up 154.5 points or 0.22 per cent.

The Nifty IT index jumped 2.73 per cent, while most other sectoral indices on the NSE also traded in positive territory after losses the previous day (Thursday, Oct 08). Nifty FMCG rose 0.96 per cent, Nifty Private Bank gained 0.56 per cent, Nifty PSU Bank advanced 0.47 per cent, Nifty Metal increased 0.26 per cent, Nifty Pharma rose 0.22 per cent, and Nifty Auto gained 0.12 per cent.