Experts observed that Anthropic’s AI automation tools stoked global fears that advanced AI could quickly replace a range of outsourced services. | Photo Credit: Dado Ruvic

Anthropic’s launch of new automation plug-ins for its Claude Cowork agent has rattled global technology markets, triggering a sell-off in software stocks and intensifying investor concerns that advanced AI could disrupt labour-heavy outsourcing models, with India’s IT services sector emerging as one of the most exposed.

What did Anthropic announce?

Anthropic on Friday launched plug-ins for its Claude Cowork agent to automate tasks across sales, productivity, product management, marketing, legal, finance, enterprise search, data, customer support, Bio Research, among others. Essentially, the plug-ins are built to automate specialised tasks across different functions within an organisation.

For example, Anthropic’s legal plug-in is said to speed up contract review, NDA triage and compliance workflows for in-house legal teams. The Sales plug-in helps with prospecting, outreach, pipeline management, call preparation and deal strategy. Enterprise Search treats a company’s tools as one searchable knowledge base; one query searches chat, email, cloud storage, wikis, project management, CRM and ticketing simultaneously. Customer Support turns Claude into a support co-pilot; it triages and prioritises support tickets, researches queries across various sources and drafts tailored responses, while packaging escalations with full context and converting resolved issues into knowledge base articles to reduce future ticket volumes.

How did markets react to the announcement?

The NIFTY IT index fell 6.6 per cent on the day, led by sharp losses in major stocks. Infosys dropped 7.99 per cent, Coforge 7.6 per cent, TCS 7.01 per cent, LTIM 6.52 per cent, HCLTech 4.85 per cent and Wipro 4.51 per cent.

The sharp sell-off in US tech stocks spilled over to Indian technology firms, dragging down their American Depository Receipts (ADRs). Infosys ADR declined 5.56 per cent on February 3, while Wipro ADR fell 4.83 per cent.

Why did the launch spook investors?

Experts observed that Anthropic’s AI automation tools stoked global fears that advanced AI could quickly replace a range of outsourced services. The launch sparked a sharp sell-off in global software stocks, with investors fearing that foundation models like Claude could bypass SaaS platforms and IT service providers.

Why is India’s IT sector vulnerable to this shift?

The negative sentiment spilled over to Indian IT stocks since IT services companies have traditionally handled such work. Anthropic’s latest launch has amplified worries around rising competition, weaker demand for conventional outsourcing and margin pressure across software companies. Markets are concerned that it could erode the core business of data and information services firms.

Indian IT companies have traditionally been services-led rather than product-driven, with limited differentiation among peers. The AI and automation wave is undermining the labour-intensive model these companies rely on, automating large parts of the work with far less human involvement. The prevailing view has shifted from AI being a tool that supports software companies to one where AI is seen as a potential replacement for them.

What other areas are likely to be impacted?

The launch has also heightened fears across the legal ecosystem, hurting stocks of legal software and publishing companies. While AI start-ups like Harvey AI and Legora have attracted significant investor interest for automating legal work, Anthropic stands apart as a model builder that can customise AI for industry-specific needs. This allows it to disrupt traditional legal data providers and AI start-ups that rely on its models, fuelling concerns that it could erode the core businesses of legal software and information services firms.

Published on February 4, 2026