It's a multi-horse race on stock markets as Smids muscle in

tion through retail flows, systemic investment plans (SIPs) and passive assets under management (AUM).

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Expertssay the drop in concentration across indices signalsashiftin howmarket leadership is forming.

“When large-cap HHIs remain elevated but mid-, small-and micro-capssit in the 47-77 band, it shows that participation is no longer top-heavy,” said Charmi Shah, business head, WealthlPMS & AIF Investments. “Such dispersion changes the behaviour of rallies. The market is less exposed to a correction in a handful of heavyweights, and leadership tendsto rotatemore frequently across sectors and sizes.”

Shahadded thatalower-HHI environment widens the opportunity set foractiveman-agers but also brings higher dispersion in returns. “Ifearnings breadth stays intact, this phase could support more durable, broad-based uptrends rather than narrow, index-led moves.”

Turnover data underscores the shift. Equity cash-tunover HHI fell to 43.6 in October, down sharply from 51.8 a year earlier. Market-cap concentration eased from79.3to 78 over the same period.

Both metrics had soared during the pandemic. Turnover HHI hit 204.5 in July 2020 and market-cap HHI peaked at 196.7 in October 2020, when investors crowded into a narrow set of liquid names.