Infosys, TCS climb up to 4% as firms cleared of US visa rule violation charges

NEW DELHI: Shares of IT majors Tata Consulting Services (TCS) and Infosys climbed up to 4 per cent in trade on Wednesday on reports the US has cleared the domestic IT exporters of visa violation charges, following a probe into an outsourcing contract involving utility firm Southern California Edison.

Infosys climbed 3.74 per cent to hit its intraday high of Rs 1,099 on BSE. TCS, on the other hand, rose 1.3 per cent to hit its day’s high of Rs 2,575 on the exchange.

Peers Wipro and HCL Technologies added 1.3 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively.

The gains seen on the index heavyweights helped the BSE IT index gain 1.8 per cent to 11,103.55.

"We do not practise or condone unfair or unethical H-1B visa practices. Our key priority is to operate fairly, ethically and with integrity, which is good business and what our clients expect," Sandeep Dadlani, EVP and head of Americas at Infosys, said in the statement on Tuesday.

Southern California Edison's decision to replace its employees with H-1B visa holders from TCS and Infosys had triggered uproar in the US, leading to the probe.

Experts said the politically-charged debate on outsourcing is bound to heat up over the coming months with the US elections on the horizon.