When shares of the Adani Group, until recently India’s largest conglomerate, began their free fall late last month, shedding more than $100 billion in days, some observers worried that the collapse could bring down the country’s capital markets, and with them the Indian economy.
That would be a frightening prospect not just for India but for the world. The country’s economy recently passed Britain’s to become the world’s fifth largest, and it is the only big one — China’s included — that has clocked strong and steady growth since pandemic restrictions were relaxed.
But the fears of a broader market contagion have not come to pass. Indian equities as a whole enjoyed a calm week in Mumbai, the country’s financial center, and have held largely steady since the Adani collapse. India’s main market index is nearly 2.5 percent above where it stood a year ago, even as U.S. stocks have fallen by more than 4 percent during the same period.
The steadfastness attests to the size and seeming strength of the broader Indian business landscape. Adani fell spectacularly after it was accused of fraud and stock manipulation by a small New York trading firm, but the debacle is barely a splash from the big Indian bucket. India is now home to about 1.5 million companies and a well-capitalized stock market: Its National Stock Exchange fluctuated comfortably between $3 trillion and $3.5 trillion last year.

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform.