New Delhi: Concerns over software stocks globally impacted Indian IT stocks on Wednesday as US AI firm Anthropic expanded its enterprise AI assistant with a new automation layer designed to handle complete business workflows. Investor caution of artificial intelligence replacing significant portions of the software business, resulting in a massive sell-off now known as the "SaaSpocalypse."
The new AI assistant could automate legal document reviews, compliance checks, sales planning, marketing campaign analysis, financial reconciliation, data visualisation, SQL‑based reporting and enterprise‑wide document search, the reports said. The market reaction extended beyond US tech firms, as US‑listed shares of Infosys and Wipro fell sharply. In the domestic market Infosys fell 8.36 per cent, while Wipro dipped 4.45 per cent respectively on an intraday basis.
Further, global consultancies Accenture and Cognizant saw declines close to double digits. Several major enterprise software players saw notable declines, including Salesforce, Adobe, DocuSign, Workday and ServiceNow. Legal and data‑focused firms such as LegalZoom and Thomson Reuters were also heavily impacted, due to concerns over AI automation disrupting professional services software. The upgraded system from Anthropic introduced multiple automation plugins that could perform full operational processes rather than assisting employees inside existing software tools.
Many functions that previously required separate software subscriptions could now be moved to this platform, reducing reliance on traditional SaaS platforms. “India, generally viewed as an anti-AI trade, is also a major software service provider for many US companies. However, the overall sentiment around software stocks on Wall Street has been bearish, so much so that Jefferies has gone on to call it a SaaSpocalypse stating that the general sentiment around these trades has been one of 'get me out',” said Vikram Kasat, Head Advisory, PL Capital. A basket of US software stocks tracked by investment bank Goldman Sachs dipped around six per cent in a single trading session, erasing roughly $285 billion in market value.
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