Top Trump official mocked online over false claim of Indian stock market crash after US green card curbs

A top US official, Inspector General Anthony D Esposito of the Department of Labor, drew ridicule on social media for seemingly endorsing a false statement that India's stock market had crashed in response to the Trump administration's recent restrictions on foreign workers, including those from India's IT sector. The claim, made by American conservative commentator Benny Johnson on X, stated that India's stock market "completely COLLAPSED" following the suspension of major technology companies from the Permanent Labor Certification program, a key step in obtaining green cards for foreign workers.

Many users criticized Esposito's brief reaction, accusing him of amplifying misinformation and displaying a lack of knowledge about the facts. Johnson's post, which claimed that 75% of Cognizant employees in the US were Indian nationals and questioned India's economy being "based on scamming" the US, was debunked by a community note.

This note pointed out that India's stock markets had closed prior to the administration's announcement on October 8, undermining the claim that the restrictions directly caused the market to collapse.

In reality, India's benchmark indices experienced a sharp decline on October 8 due to factors such as rising crude oil prices, the Reserve Bank of India's rate hike, and foreign investor outflows. However, the market rebounded on October 9, with the BSE Sensex rising 292 points to 71,876.10 and the NSE Nifty gaining 84.60 points to 22,310.40.

Despite the controversy, the latest PERM suspensions under the Trump administration may still impact the green card sponsorship process for employees of the affected companies, although it does not, by itself, mean that all foreign workers lose their jobs or visas.