Pakistan has claimed the top spot globally for equity market performance in US dollar terms over the past year, a standout economic achievement, media reports said.
India, meanwhile, has slipped behind regional and emerging market peers as tariff hikes triggered sector-wide sell-offs, foreign investor withdrawals and weaker market confidence. The Sensex delivered only a 3.2% return in USD during FY25, far short of Pakistan’s strong gains.
“Pakistan’s equity market indeed led globally in USD terms, especially when considering the two-year cumulative returns. During fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25), Pakistan’s benchmark KSE-100 Index delivered a 55.5% return in US dollar terms and 58.6% in Pakistani rupee terms,” the bourse experts said while quoting fact-based data.
Pakistan ranked third globally behind Ghana and Slovenia and was eighth-best in FY25 alone, according to Bloomberg – as a single year’s performance. But over the two-year period (FY24 and FY25), Pakistan emerged as the world’s best-performing equity market in USD terms.
“So yes, especially looking at the two-year cumulative picture, Pakistan did top the global charts in USD terms,” they said.
Pakistan’s performance outpaced many markets, including India’s. For FY25, Pakistan significantly outperformed India’s BSE Sensex, which returned just 3.2%, as per AHL data. In Asia, the KSE-100 beat regional markets like China (+14.8%) and India (+6%) in terms of returns. Indian markets have been under pressure due to concerns like tariffs, foreign investor outflows and slowing earnings, leading to multi-week losing streaks and cautious sentiment. India performed modestly and faced headwinds in 2025 – and trailed Pakistan in USD-based equity performance.
India, while underperforming and showing signs of stress, was not necessarily at its lowest ebb. Domestic investment and some forward-looking optimism suggest there’s still potential for recovery.
According to Indian newspapers, when India’s export tariffs began increasing – from 25% initially to a total of 50%-Indian equity markets reacted sharply. On August 7, 2025, Sensex fell 492 points ( 0.61%) and Nifty dropped 156 points ( 0.64%).
Later that day, Sensex slid 671 points ( 0.84%) to 79,867, and Nifty declined 208 points ( 0.85%) to 24,362 – with all sectors in the red. Moody’s warned that the tariff hike could derail India’s manufacturing ambitions, hurt its ability to attract investments, and weigh on growth-citing over $900 million in FII outflows in August alone, after $2 billion in July. Sensex and Nifty dropped ~2.9% in July. However, amid US support during tariff tensions, on July 31, following Trump’s announcement of increased tariffs on Indian goods, Pakistan’s equity market rallied as the KSE-100 rose by about 1.3% (roughly 1,800 points). This was driven by investor optimism around a US pledge to help develop Pakistan’s massive oil reserves.