New Delhi, May 7 -- The weak performance of Indian shares hasn't just dampened wealth creation, it has also put India's stock market at risk of being overtaken in terms of capitalization by the bourses of smaller economies.

Catching up fast are Taiwan and South Korea; the former's market cap is now about $4.6 trillion, within sniffing distance of India's $4.9 trillion, and South Korea's is at about $4.2 trillion. As much as $2.7 trillion of Taiwan's gain has come in just the past 12 months, while South Korea too has seen a big leap.

Their upsurge has been driven mainly by investor demand for AI-related stocks-chipmaker TSMC and chip designer MediaTek, for instance, in the case of Taiwan, and AI supply chain participants Samsung and SK H...