Goldman Sachs pushes back on 'short-AI' India narrative, says report; 42 stocks in focus

Indian equities have lagged the broader global market rally driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, amid concerns that India's large IT services sector could be vulnerable to automation and job losses. According to a Bloomberg report, these concerns have increasingly led some market participants to describe India as an "anti-AI" or "short-AI" trade.

Goldman Sachs, however, has challenged this narrative, Bloomberg reported. Citing Santanu Sengupta, chief India economist at Goldman Sachs, the report said hiring at smaller technology companies and global capability centres (GCCs) is helping offset job losses in traditional software services.

Last month, the foreign brokerage came out with a list of 42 stocks that form part of its India AI Enablers Portfolio. The portfolio includes Waaree Energies Ltd, Netweb Technologies India Ltd, Tata Power Company Ltd, Kaynes Technology India Ltd, Syrma SGS Technology Ltd, Adani Enterprises Ltd, NTPC Green Energy Ltd, Sterlite Technologies Ltd, Anant Raj and GE Vernova T&D India, among others.

According to Goldman Sachs, these companies have visible revenue generation, order-book pipelines, capital commitments and partnerships across the AI-related supply chain, including power, semiconductors and data centres.

"AI Enablers are the single-best-performing pocket in India in 2026. The cohort has outstripped returns from small/midcap indices, suggesting that the outperformance reflects genuine, idiosyncratic AI-driven strength rather than a broad-based size premium," it stated.

Goldman Sachs said hard disclosures on AI-related revenue and investments remain limited among Indian companies. However, the brokerage said textual data from management calls has provided greater visibility into the adoption of AI.

"Mentions of 'AI' in management commentaries have risen sharply over the past two years, not just in Information Technology (IT), but increasingly across other sectors as well, signalling broadening of adoption across corporate India," Goldman said.

The brokerage also said the rise in AI Enabler stock prices in 2026 has largely reflected earnings growth rather than an expansion in valuation multiples.