Mumbai: The absence of a meaningful AI trade in India is often cited as one reason for the relative lack of foreign investor interest in the market, particularly as AI-linked stocks have powered returns in several other major markets such as the US, Taiwan and South Korea. But beneath the benchmark indices, a sizeable pocket of Indian companies is emerging as a play on the build-out of AI infrastructure. Goldman Sachs has identified 42 such 'AI Enablers' across power, data centres and semiconductors.
Read more: Gold tumbles 4% to seven-week low as oil, dollar and yields climb
While the Nifty has fallen 12% in 2026 till mid-September, this cohort has surged about 60%. Many of these companies are small- and mid-caps in capital goods, utilities and technology hardware, which means their presence is not adequately captured by the large-cap-heavy benchmark indices.
Valuations, though, are not cheap. Goldman Sachs said the AI Enablers trade at about 36 times forward earnings, an 85% premium to MSCI India and close to the upper end of their five-year valuation range of 28-39 times. The brokerage said that the premium largely reflects their stronger earnings growth. ET shortlisted 14 out of the 42 companies identified by Goldman on the basis of a minimum capex intensity of 20%.
