New Delhi, Sept. 29 -- Two years after Indian equities scaled their peak in September 2024, investors have more stocks to choose from at lower valuations. Finding value, however, still requires looking beyond the price tag.

The sharpest retreat from extreme valuations has been in largecaps. Smallcaps have undergone a broader reset across expensive valuation bands. Midcaps remain the most concentrated at the higher end, with expectations of stronger growth helping to sustain their premiums.

The retreat from extreme valuations is clearest among largecaps. The share of large caps trading above 80 times earnings fell to 21.3% from 31.9%, a decline of 10.6 percentage points-the largest among the three segments.

Yet the bands immediately bel...