India’s smallcap segment saw their biggest monthly rally in more than a decade in April 2026. The Nifty Smallcap 100 index surged 18.44 per cent during the month, its highest monthly gain since May 2014, when it had risen 22.38 per cent. Back then, the rally was driven by optimism after Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led alliance won its first national election.
The latest rebound has come as domestic investors returned to stocks that were heavily sold in March following the West Asia conflict. In March, the index had declined 10.20 per cent, its most precipitous monthly decline since February 2025.
The March decline was mainly led by financial services stocks, as the sector has a 32 per cent weight in the index and also saw the highest selling by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) among all sectors.
According to National Securities Depository (NSDL) data, FPIs sold financial services stocks worth Rs 60,655 crore in March. This accounted for more than half of the record total FPI sell-off of Rs 1,17,775 crore during the month.
Meanwhile, the benchmark Nifty 50 recovered only 7.46 per cent in the month after witnessing a rout of 11.31 per cent in March.
The rebound in smallcap stocks has also coincided with the Q4 FY26 earnings season, with a sizeable number of companies from the Nifty Smallcap 100 having announced their results so far.
Among the Nifty Smallcap 100 constituents, Ola Electric Mobility, Cohance Lifesciences and Welspun Corp emerged as the top performers in April, delivering returns of 60.40 per cent, 60.30 per cent and 55.90 per cent, respectively.
They were followed by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Bandhan Bank, Reliance Power, Deepak Fertilisers, Tata Chemicals, PNB Housing Finance, Himadri Speciality, Meesho, Five-Star Business Finance and Angel One, which gained between 35.70 per cent and 48.60 per cent during the month.
