Five reasons India's booming economy isn't lifting its stock market.

The world's fastest growing major economy has one of the worst performing major equity markets in 2026. The correction in Indian stocks has, in fact, only intensified in recent weeks.

Indian mom-and-pop investors who put their money into the Nifty have seen their wealth erode by about 15% this year. In comparison, they would have made 62% returns on Korea's Kospi index since January or 170% in the last two years.

The benchmark Sensex and Nifty indices, which represent the country's largest companies, have inched up slightly since Monday after posting losses for eight straight weeks - the longest losing streak in 25 years, according to Reuters.

Domestic assets under management of mutual funds have grown from about $125bn in 2016 to some $900bn this year, with the number of Indians parking money in stocks and mutual funds more than tripling to 150 million individuals. This makes the recent fall in the markets more worrying - since households, already struggling from a weak job market, high inflation and faltering consumption, are now seeing their equity savings take a beating too.

India imports over 90% of its crude requirements, with crude oil prices hovering between $90 and $100 a barrel as the disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz enters its eighth month. This single variable tends to influence the markets quite negatively, {"title": "Five reasons India's booming economy isn't lifting its stock market.","sourceHeadline":"Five reasons India's booming economy isn't lifting its stock market.","facts":[{"name":"India imports over 90% of its crude requirements","value":90,"unit":"barrels"},{"name":"Crude oil prices have hovered between $90 and $100 a barrel as the disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz enters its eighth month, far longer than analysts had expected."},{"name":"India imports over 90% of its requirements - nearly half of its crude oil imports, along with a large share of its liquified petroleum gas (LPG) and liquified natural gas (LNG) shipments, come through the Strait of Hormuz.","value":90,"unit":"percent"},{"name":"While Delhi has diversified its energy sources, tapping Russian oil markets, US President Donald Trump recently threatened up to 100% tariffs on countries doing trade with Moscow, further complicating matters."},{"name":"With oil prices rising, inflation is going up and, as a result, interest rates are on the rise globally. The effective yield on US government bonds is above 5%, or at near 25-year highs.","value":90,"unit":"percent"},{"name":"For foreign investors, the problem of muted returns has been compounded by a weaker rupee. In currency-adjusted dollar terms, they have suffered because of the fall in the Indian currency."},{"name":"The Nifty has delivered just 6% annualised dollar returns over the past decade - hardly attractive, especially in comparison with several other competing markets.","value":90,"unit":"percent"},{"name":"Indian stocks are still expensive relative to their earnings compared to other emerging markets","value":90,"unit":"percent"},{"name":"Stock valuations have been another major concern.","value":90,"unit":"percent"},{"name":"The market correction over the last two