Goldman sees India AI infrastructure stocks up 60% in 2026

Investing.com -- Goldman Sachs identified a group of 42 Indian companies it calls "AI Enablers" that gained approximately 60% in 2026, while the Nifty index fell 12% during the same period.

The investment bank screened 1,800 listed companies and found AI infrastructure-related firms with a combined market capitalization of $670 billion across power, data center and semiconductor segments. These companies represent the best-performing segment in the Indian market by a wide margin this year.

The AI Enablers group includes companies focused on power equipment, data center hardware, semiconductor outsourced assembly and test services, power generation, data center operations and semiconductor materials. The composition skews heavily toward small and mid-cap names concentrated in capital goods, utilities and tech hardware sectors.

Goldman Sachs noted that India has become an "anti-AI" trade, with Indian equities among the weakest performing major markets globally since 2025. The Indian market's AI-exposed share of its index remains far below regional peers including Korea, Taiwan, China and Japan.

The rally in AI Enablers since 2025 was driven primarily by earnings growth rather than multiple expansion. The cohort's 53% return since 2025 breaks down into 65 percentage points from earnings growth and negative 12 percentage points from valuation compression.

Consensus forecasts expect earnings growth for these companies to remain ahead of the broader market over the next several years. The cohort entered a strong earnings upgrade cycle while the broader index faces earnings cuts.

Goldman Sachs stated that absolute multiples for AI Enablers trade at a premium to the broader market, but when adjusted for their growth profile, they trade slightly below the broader MSCI India index.

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