SENSEX

Full form of SENSEX - Stock Exchange Sensitive Index

The Sensex is an "index". What is an index? An index is basically an indicator. It gives you a
general idea about whether most of the stocks have gone up or most of the stocks have gone
down. The Sensex is an indicator of all the major companies of the BSE.
The S&P BSE SENSEX (S&P Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index), also-called the BSE 30 or
simply the SENSEX, is afree-float market-weighted stock market index of 30 well-established
and financially sound companies listed on Bombay Stock Exchange. The 30 component
companies which are some of the largest and most actively traded stocks, are representative of
various industrial sectors of the Indian economy
The BSE Sensex currently consists of the following 30 major Indian companies as of 10 April
2014.
[2]

Company Scrip Industry
Axis Bank 532215 Banking
Cipla 500087 Pharmaceuticals
Bharat Heavy Electricals 500103 Electrical equipment
State Bank Of India 500112 Banking
HDFC Bank 500180 Banking
Hero Motocorp 500182 Automotive
Infosys 500209 Information Technology
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation 500312 Oil and gas
Company Scrip Industry
Reliance Industries 500325 Oil and gas
Tata Power 500400 Power
Hindalco Industries 500440 Metals and Mining
Tata Steel 500470 Steel
Larsen & Toubro 500510 Conglomerate
Mahindra & Mahindra 500520 Automotive
Tata Motors 500570 Automotive
Hindustan Unilever 500696 Consumer goods
ITC 500875 Conglomerate
Sesa Sterlite Ltd 500295 Iron and Steel
Wipro 507685 Information Technology
Sun Pharmaceutical 524715 Pharmaceuticals
Company Scrip Industry
GAIL 532155 Oil and gas
ICICI Bank 532174 Banking
Housing Development Finance Corporation 500010 Housing Finance
Bharti Airtel 532454 Telecommunication
Maruti Suzuki 532500 Automotive
Tata Consultancy Services 532540 Information Technology
NTPC 532555 Power
Dr. Reddy's 500124 Pharmaceuticals
Bajaj Auto 532977 Automotive
Coal India 533278
Metals and Mining



The Nifty is an indicator of all the major companies of the NSE.
If the Sensex goes up, it means that the prices of the stocks of most of the major
companies on the BSE have gone up. If the Sensex goes down, this tells you that the
stock price of most of the major stocks on the BSE have gone down.
Just like the Sensex represents the top stocks of the BSE, the Nifty represents the top
stocks of the NSE.
Besides Sensex and the Nifty there are many other indexes. There is an index that
gives you an idea about whether the mid-cap stocks go up and down. This is called
the BSE Mid-cap Index. There are many other types of indexes.
METHOD ADOPTED FOR SENSEX CACULATION
The method adopted for calculating Sensex is the market capitalisation weighted method in
which weights are assigned according to the size of the company. Larger the size, higher
the weightage.
The base year of Sensex is 1978-79 and the base index value is set to 100 for that period.
WHY IS THE BASE VALUE SET TO 100 POINTS?
The total value of shares in the market at the time of index construction is assumed to be
100 in terms of points. This is for the purpose of ease of calculation and to logically
represent the change in terms of percentage. So, next day, if the market capitalization
moves up 10%, the index also moves 10% to 110.