MUMBAI: On Tuesday, India slipped to the seventh spot in terms of stock market valuation as South Korea marched to sixth. In the last two years, India has slipped three places in the rankings after Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea overtook it, historical data showed.Nearly unabated foreign fund selling since Sept 2024 (when the sensex hit a new life peak at almost 86,000-point mark), muted corporate earnings that failed to justify India’s high valuations compared to some emerging market peers, and the country’s slow growth relating to AI-led tech developments led to this slide, market players said.Currently, India’s $4.9 trillion market cap is behind South Korea and Taiwan’s, both of which are at a little over the $5-trillion mark, Reuters data showed. At the top of the table is the US with a $79.1-trillion market cap, followed by China at $16.3 trillion, Japan at $8.9 trillion and Hong Kong at $7.6 trillion.While India lags in the AI-led market cap race, South Korea and Taiwan have gained as some companies from these countries lead the global rush for AI chips. Markets have rewarded their stocks handsomely. The list includes TSMC from Taiwan, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix from South Korea.The slide in India’s market cap ranking came despite a 0.5% rise in the sensex during the day. Positive geopolitical cues from West Asia improved sentiment on Dalal Street on Tuesday. With crude oil prices sliding, the index rallied from the red zone to close 383 points up at 74,650 points.The day’s gains in sensex and Nifty came on the back of strong buying by domestic funds while foreign funds were net sellers. While domestic institutional investors were net buyers at Rs 9,589 crore, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net sellers at Rs 8,363 crore.
