India’s six largest IT services companies received just 11,041 H-1B visa approvals as of March 31, 2026, a 40% decline from 18,469 the previous year, according to official U.S. government data. The sharp drop marks the steepest single-year fall in recent memory and signals a fundamental shift in how Indian technology firms deploy workers in the United States.
Tata Consultancy Services faced the deepest cut among the major players, with approvals falling 53% from 6,136 to 2,885. Wipro saw a 62% decline while Tech Mahindra recorded a 59% drop. Infosys emerged as the only exception, ending fiscal 2026 with 3,195 approvals an increase over the prior year and the highest among the six firms.
The decline stems from two major policy changes under the Trump administration. In September 2025, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation imposing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions, triggering legal challenges from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that remain pending in court. Late that year, the Department of Homeland Security finalized a rule replacing the random H-1B lottery with a wage-weighted selection system favoring higher-paid workers, which took effect for the FY2027 cap season beginning in March 2026.
Brookings Institution analysis from May 2026 found only about 85 companies have paid the $100,000 fee so far, demonstrating how effectively the cost has deterred new petitions. The impact has concentrated on new hires rather than existing deployments. Extension approval rates for TCS, Infosys, and Wipro remained above 93%, indicating current H-1B workers face no immediate disruption. However, TCS’s extension rejection rate climbed from 4% to 7% in FY25, compared to a U.S.-wide average of 1.9%.
Indian IT firms are responding by expanding offshore delivery from India and increasing local hiring within the United States. A February 2026 Moody’s report noted that India’s top firms, with EBITDA margins of 19% to 26%, possess sufficient financial cushion to absorb higher costs. Nevertheless, the era of large-scale worker deployments on H-1B visas appears to be winding down as the industry adapts to stricter immigration policies and elevated compliance costs.
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