A stock market index of Indian IT firms, the Nifty IT Index (.NIFTYIT), has fallen by more than a fifth this year while the benchmark NSE Nifty (.NSEI) has been flat as weaker global demand and a shift towards AI pressures the industry.

India and China are restoring economic links strained by a deadly 2020 border clash, the latest sign Prime Minister Narendra Modi is drawing closer to the BRICS countries after US President Donald Trump hit the South Asian nation with a 50% tariff.

Trump, who has previously denounced India as a “tariff king”, blamed New Delhi’s purchases of Russian weapons and oil for the additional rate, which puts at risk India’s largest export market, worth $87bn in the year to the end of March.