New Delhi, Dec. 1 -- The surge in artificial intelligence (AI) has pushed a handful of tech giants to unprecedented valuations, dominating global indices and igniting a crucial question: Is this genuine, transformative growth-or the making of another financial bubble?

For retail investors already coping with volatile interest rates, persistent inflation, and geopolitical uncertainty, understanding this balance is key to preserving and growing capital.

Fears of an AI bubble stem from the rapid surge of AI-focused firms-particularly those powering chips and cloud infrastructure. Critics see strong parallels to the dot-com era, when the promise of the internet inflated unprofitable companies. Today's market concentration is arguably sharpe...