India's stock market has paid a price for being an "anti-AI" trade. Dalal Street has been among the weakest global markets since 2025, when the AI boom engulfed the world, gaining less than 2 per cent in 20 months ended August 2026. India has far lower AI exposure in the benchmark indices than regional peers like South Korea, China, Taiwan and Japan.
That said, a latest report by Goldman Sachs challenges this tag. The analysts at the global brokerage argue that if you look beyond the index, there are at least 42 AI enablers that have rallied 60 per cent in 2026 so far, as against a 12 per cent fall seen in the Nifty 50 index.

This rise makes them the best-performing pocket in the market by a wide margin, and the "divergence challenges the view that India offers limited AI exposure", Goldman said. Strength in AI enablers has been quite broad-based, the brokerage highlighted: All the 3 layers of power, data centres and semiconductors have rallied 40-80 per cent year-to-date (YTD).
Nine out of nine sub-layers outperformed MSCI India, with six out of nine up more than 20 per cent YTD. It must be noted that financials form over a third of the 50-stock Nifty, accounting for 36 per cent share as of August 31, 2026. Oil and gas, and information technology (IT) follow with 9.5 per cent and 8.48 per cent stakes, respectively.

While Indian IT forms a big chunk of Nifty, they are rather hurt by AI advancements as it challenges its traditional revenue model. Rising adoption of AI-native solutions is intensifying pricing pressure, triggering deal renegotiations and slowing execution as clients reassess technology spending, Crisil Ratings said in a note in July.
Check - TOP GAINERS NSE | TOP LOSERS NSE AI enablers skewed towards mid & smallcapsMeanwhile, the composition of AI enablers skews heavily towards small and mid-cap names and is concentrated in capital goods, utilities and tech hardware sectors, a combination largely inaccessible through cap-weighted benchmark indices.

Some of the names include Adani Green Energy, Tata Power, ABB India, ACME Solar, Siemens, Waaree Renewable, Netweb Technologies, CG Power, Polycab India, Bharti Airtel, Sterlite Tech, HFCL, L&T, Adani Enterprises and Anant Raj, among others spread across sectors like power, data centre hardware, semiconductor OSATs, power generation with visible pipelines, capital commitments and partnerships across the AI supply chain.
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Since 2025, AI Enablers have returned +53 per cent, of which +65pp came from earnings growth and -12pp from valuation compression, implying the rally was driven through earnings accumulation, and not speculative re-rating, it said. Consensus expects AI Enabler earnings to grow 53 per cent/39 per cent/29 per cent in 2026/27/28E, significantly stronger than the broad market.
For those concerned about valuations, Goldman Sachs says that it is justified by growth. "Absolute multiples are at a rich premium to the broader market, but once adjusted for the superior growth profile, they trade slightly below the broader MSCI India index, suggesting the premium reflects superior growth, not stretched valuations," said the brokerage.