Nasdaq’s A-share Globalisation Leaders Index has been recognised as Most Innovative Index in Asia Asset Management’s Best of the Best Awards 2026 for an index built around one of the most significant shifts in China’s corporate landscape: Mainland companies expanding overseas.
Launched in January 2025, the index tracks the companies’ performance trend systematically, offering investors a rules-based benchmark focused on China A-share companies whose international footprint is both material and growing.
“Even as the concept of China companies going global became a widely recognised trend, there were limited dedicated investment vehicles and benchmarks designed to capture that segment of A-share companies in a systematic way,” says Phoebe Wang, head of Asia Pacific Index Research & Development, at Nasdaq. “The index addresses this by providing a rules-based benchmark that makes the theme measurable, so it can serve as a clear reference point for investors and as a foundation for investment solutions.” What differentiates the index is the way it defines a “globalisation leader”. Eligibility begins with objective evidence of overseas business traction disclosed in annual reports. To qualify, companies must meet multiple financial and disclosure-based screens. They must derive at least 50% of their total revenue from overseas markets, post positive year-on-year overseas revenue growth, maintain a non-negative change in overseas revenue share and report positive annual net profit. There is also a threshold of at least 200 million RMB (US$28.9 million) in annual overseas revenue, ensuring that overseas activity is not merely incidental. Wang says those filters were chosen because they translate globalisation into observable outcomes. “Overseas revenue growth and the change in overseas revenue share help focus the screen on companies where overseas contribution is improving, not just present.” The positive net profit requirement, she adds, functions as “a basic financial health screen”. From that eligible universe, the index selects the top 50 constituents using a “Globalisation Score” that goes beyond revenue alone. Wang describes this as a checklist-style framework designed to reflect “the breadth and depth of a company’s globalisation beyond revenue alone”, incorporating indicators such as overseas entities, organisational presence, research and staffing, and operational build-out across production, supply chain, logistics and sales channels. In practical terms, the index is not simply screening for exporters; it is seeking companies where overseas activity is becoming embedded in the business model. That structure also shapes the type of companies represented. “The overseas revenue share requirement of at least 50% means overseas markets are a core part of the revenue base, rather than reflecting occasional export exposure,” Wang says. She also notes that the index is “not designed to drift into very small names”, because the overseas revenue threshold adds “an absolute size test in value terms”. Wang says this helps explain why the Nasdaq’s A-share Globalisation Leaders Index has behaved differently from traditional China benchmarks. Constituents tend to cluster in consumer, healthcare, industrial and technology – areas more closely associated with newer-economy exposure – while the CSI 300 Index is more heavily weighted to traditional large-cap sectors. The combination of overseas-growth filters, top-50 selection by globalisation score and equal weighting, therefore produces a distinct return profile from a broad market-cap-weighted benchmark. The timing of the index also matters. Wang explains that the theme has become more relevant in an environment shaped by shifting supply chains and geopolitical realignment. “The companies that have already built meaningful overseas sales and operating footprints are often better positioned to adapt to changes in trade patterns, tariffs and localisation requirements,” she says. Nasdaq’s aggregation of A-share annual disclosures shows total overseas revenue rising from roughly 5.9 trillion RMB in 2018 to about 10.9 trillion RMB by the end of 2024, while the overseas revenue share of total A-share revenue increased from around 13% to 15%. For asset managers and institutional investors, Nasdaq has positioned the index not only as a replacement for core China exposure, but as a benchmark-enhancement tool. Wang says its positioning makes it “a natural satellite allocation”, which allows investors to retain a core China benchmark while adding “a growth and diversification sleeve” with a differentiated return profile. The index, therefore, offers a practical framework for investors looking to access the next phase of China’s corporate globalisation. 
Defining leaders
Accessing China growth
