India loses fifth largest stock market tag to Taiwan; this chipmaker is behind it

India is no more the fifth largest stock market in the world, thanks to a sharp 132 per cent rally in shares of the world's largest chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and a steep depreciation in rupee. At last count, Taiwan stock market commanded a market capitalisation of $4.95 trillion against $4.93 trillion market value commanded by all listed stocks on BSE.

TSMC is the only stock in the Taiwanese benchmark Taiex with a weighting over 10 per cent. That weightage stands at a solid 44 per cent of the index. The rally in the stock, which commanded an m-cap of $1.8 trillion at April end, lifted the market cap of the entire Taiwanese listed universe.

Against this, India's most-valued stocks such as Reliance Industries Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd and  Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, have declined 3-35 per cent in the past one year. Rupee too has depreciated 10.8 per cent during the same period, weighing on the dollar value of Indian market.

Earnings is another concern for the domestic market, with foreign outflows from Indian equities touching Rs 2,27,602 crore in the first five months of 2026.

"Markets expect India's near-term earnings growth to be lower than commodity- and tech-oriented EMs," Kotak Institutional Equities said in a strategy note. It noted that India's earnings growth is projected at 19.8 per cent in FY27 against 7.6 per cent in FY26. In the case of TWSE, earnings growth for 2026 is projected at 62.9 per cent against 15.2 per cent in 2025.

On the broader basis, domestic benchmarks Sensex and Nifty have declined 4-7 per cent in the past one year compared with doubling of the Taiex index, as investors flocked to AI-led themes, dumping domestic equities with muted single-digit growth projections.

CLSA in an April 28 bits & pieces note said AI has elevated memory to strategic importance. Supply remains constrained but pricing remains elevated, it noted adding that profitability remains strong for chipmakers.

In a note earlier this month, Jefferies said the history of the DRAM players and their customers has always been much more cutthroat and transactional than the long-term partnership TSMC has traditionally cultivated with its major suppliers.

Data showed TSMC accounted for 57.20 per cent of MSCI Taiwan Index (USD) weight at the end of April, followed by Delta Electronics (4.59 per cent) and Mediatek (4.33 per cent).