NIFTY 50

The NIFTY 50 is the flagship index on the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. (NSE). The Index tracks the behavior of a portfolio of blue chip companies, the largest and most liquid Indian securities. It includes 50 of the approximately 1600 companies listed on the NSE, captures approximately 65% of its float-adjusted market capitalization and is a true reflection of the Indian stock market.

The NIFTY 50 covers major sectors of the Indian economy and offers investment managers exposure to the Indian market in one efficient portfolio. The Index has been trading since April 1996 and is well suited for benchmarking, index funds and index-based derivatives.

The NIFTY 50 is owned and managed by India Index Services and Products Ltd. (IISL). IISL is India's first specialized company focused on an index as a core product

Source : NSE

Method of Computation:

NIFTY 50 is computed using free float market capitalization weighted method, wherein the level of the index reflects the total market value of all the stocks in the index relative to a particular base period. The method also takes into account constituent changes in the index and importantly corporate actions such as stock splits, rights, etc without affecting the index value.

Base Date and Value

The base period selected for NIFTY 50 index is the close of prices on November 3, 1995, which marks the completion of one year of operations of NSE's Capital Market Segment. The base value of the index has been set at 1000 and a base capital of Rs.2.06 trillion

Source : NSE

Liquidity (Impact Cost)

For inclusion in the index, the security should have traded at an average impact cost of 0.50% or less during the last six months for 90% of the observations for a basket size of Rs. 2 Crores.

Impact cost is cost of executing a transaction in a security in proportion to the weightage of its free float market capitalisation as against the index free float market capitalisation at any point of time. This is the percentage mark- up suffered while buying / selling the desired quantity of a security compared to its ideal price (best buy + best sell) / 2

Others

a) A company which comes out with an IPO will be eligible for inclusion in the index, if it fulfils the normal eligibility criteria for the index like impact cost, market capitalisation and floating stock, for a 3 month period instead of a 6 month period.

b) The constituents should be available for trading in the derivatives segment (Stock Futures & Options market) on NSE.

c) Replacement of Stock from the Index:

A stock may be replaced from an index for the following reasons:

With respect to (2) above, a maximum of 10% of the index size (number of stocks in the index) may be changed in a calendar year. Changes carried out for (2) above are irrespective of changes, if any, carried out for (1) above

Source : NSE