India’s AI Treasure Map: 48 Stocks, One Free Index

A week ago, on 21 September, we wrote about a Goldman Sachs report that named 42 Indian companies as “AI Enablers” — the power, cooling, cabling and data-centre businesses that let AI actually run, as opposed to the flashy AI apps everyone talks about. Goldman said this basket had already rallied hard in 2026 even while the Nifty struggled. The catch: Goldman’s full list of 42 names sits inside a paid research report. We could only share the handful of names that had leaked into the financial press.

Turns out, NSE was already there. Six days before Goldman’s report even landed, NSE Indices Limited (the index arm of the National Stock Exchange) had announced in a press release dated 11 September 2026 that it had launched a brand-new index: the Nifty AI Catalysts Index, aimed at tracking companies that “provide critical products, services and infrastructure that enable the AI ecosystem.”

It isn’t Goldman’s list. But it is free, public, and fully disclosed — and that makes it the closest thing retail investors get to a treasure map for this theme.

What does the Nifty AI Catalysts Index track?

The index picks its members from the Nifty 500 (so these are all reasonably large, liquid, tracked companies — not obscure micro-caps) and sorts them into seven buckets that, together, cover the physical backbone of AI:

Cloud computing and AI models. Semiconductor equipment, manufacturing and design. Data-centre and infrastructure development. Cooling and thermal-management systems. Cables, electrical components and materials. Data transmission and connectivity. Energy and power infrastructure.

Within each bucket, NSE ranks companies by six-month average free-float market capitalisation and keeps adding names until it has covered 75% of that bucket’s total value (with a floor of at least five stocks per group). Every stock’s weight is then capped at 3%, based on free-float market cap. The result, as of launch, was 48 stocks.

The index has a base date of 28 June 2024 and a base value of 1000. It gets reconstituted twice a year (June and December) and rebalanced every quarter (March, June, September, December) — so the mix stays current as new AI-infrastructure winners emerge and old members fall behind.

The top of the table: largest Nifty AI Catalysts Index holdings

Here is who currently carries the most weight, per NSE’s own factsheet (data as of 31 August 2026):

Zoom out and the index leans heavily on three kinds of businesses: capital goods and power equipment makers (about 32% of the index), power generation and transmission companies (about 22%), and telecom infrastructure (about 12%). IT services, the part of “AI” most people actually think about, is a comparatively small 5% slice. This index is really a bet on the wiring, power plants and towers behind AI — not on AI software itself. The full 48-name list is public too, on NSE’s own site, for anyone who wants the complete picture.

Does it actually resemble Goldman’s list?

We don’t have Goldman’s full 42 names — that report is proprietary. But a handful of names from it have shown up in press coverage of the report: Waaree Energies, Netweb Technologies, Tata Power, Sterlite Technologies, Kaynes Technology, Syrma SGS Technology, Adani Enterprises, NTPC Green Energy, Anant Raj, and GE Vernova T&D India.

Of those ten, four sit inside the Nifty AI Catalysts index too: Tata Power, Kaynes Technology, Adani Enterprises, and GE Vernova T&D India. That’s not proof the two lists are twins — we’re comparing 48 public names against only 10 of Goldman’s 42, so six of those ten don’t clear NSE’s Nifty-500 or group-selection bar, and Goldman’s other 32 names remain unknown to us. But it is a genuine, checkable overlap, and it suggests the two research teams are looking at the same corner of the market.

Why this matters if you’re not a Goldman client

You can’t buy Goldman’s report-based basket directly. You can, in principle, track an index. NSE says Nifty AI Catalysts is meant to be a benchmark for asset managers and a reference index for ETFs, index funds and structured products — so fund houses could eventually launch products tracking it, the way they have for other Nifty thematic indices. Until then, the index itself, its methodology and its full constituent list are sitting in the open, free for anyone to study, whether or not a fund ever wraps around it.

Key takeaways

• What the index is: NSE Indices Limited announced the Nifty AI Catalysts Index in a press release dated 11 September 2026. It tracks companies that provide the products, services and infrastructure behind AI, picks its members from the Nifty 500 across seven buckets, and had 48 stocks at launch.
• How it is built: Within each bucket, NSE ranks companies by six-month average free-float market capitalisation and keeps adding names until it covers 75% of the bucket’s value, with at least five stocks per group. Each stock’s weight is capped at 3%. The index is reconstituted in June and December and rebalanced every quarter.
• What it leans on: According to NSE’s factsheet (data as of 31 August 2026), capital goods and power equipment makers are about 32% of the index, power generation and transmission about 22%, telecom infrastructure about 12% and IT services about 5%. The article calls it a bet on the wiring, power plants and towers behind AI, not on AI software.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Main sources

NSE Indices Limited, “NSE Indices launches Nifty AI Catalysts Index”, press release, 11 September 2026.

NSE Indices Limited, Nifty AI Catalysts factsheet, data as of 31 August 2026.

NSE Indices Limited, Nifty Equity Indices methodology document, Section 18: Nifty AI Catalysts.

NSE Indices Limited, Nifty AI Catalysts full constituent list (CSV).

Press Insider, “Goldman finds a hidden AI trade beneath India’s lagging market”, 17 September 2026. It reports on a Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research report dated 17 September, which we did not read directly.

Other sources

Axczel Research, “India’s Hidden AI Story: The Companies Building the Backbone”, our earlier piece on Goldman Sachs’ AI Enablers report.

Business Today, “Waaree, Netweb, Tata Power, Sterlite Tech among 42 stocks in Goldman Sachs’ India AI Enablers portfolio”, 18 September 2026.

Business Standard, “India’s ‘anti-AI’ tag challenged as 42 AI enablers surge 60%: Goldman Sachs”.