Indian shares hold onto losses after RBI rate pause; IT falls on AI-linked disruption fears
Indian shares held onto their losses on Friday, weighed down by IT stocks as a global tech selloff intensified on concerns over AI-led disruption, while the central bank kept rates unchanged as expected and reiterated focus on growth.
The Nifty 50 was down 0.46% at 25,527.3, while the BSE Sensex shed 0.36% to 83,010.73, as of 10:07 a.m. IST. They were down 0.4% ahead of the policy decision.
The Reserve Bank of India kept the key repo rate unchanged at 5.25%, citing benign inflation and a stable growth outlook, while acknowledging that external headwinds have intensified since the December 2025 meeting.
Fifteen of the 16 major sectors opened lower. The broader small-caps and mid-caps fell 1.3% and 0.9%, respectively.
The IT index fell 1.7%, tracking a global tech sell-off on concerns over potential artificial intelligence disruption in the sector.
Other global markets tumbled overnight while Asian markets fell 0.9% on the day, dragged by technology stocks. The sector has come under pressure after AI updates from U.S. firm Anthropic intensified fears of disruption.
While India does not have pure-play AI-linked companies, rapid advances in AI could hurt the application services segment, which accounts for 40%-70% of revenue, weighing on earnings growth of domestic IT firms, according to multiple brokerages.
The IT index is down 6.6% this week, on course to register its steepest weekly drop in four months.
