As a prospective or an existing stock market investor, you must have come across the terms Sensex and Nifty innumerable times.
In this article, we shall take a detailed look at what is Sensex and Nifty and the difference between Sensex and Nifty. However, before we proceed with that it is imperative to know about the stock exchanges with which Sensex and Nifty are associated with, the BSE and NSE.
Established in the year 1875, BSE is the oldest stock exchange in India whereas NSE, founded in 1992 is India’s biggest stock exchange.
Sensex and Nifty are indices that represent the performance of a basket of securities on the BSE and NSE respectively.
The BSE Sensex (Sensitive Index), a term coined by financial analyst Deepak Mohoni in the 80’s is the benchmark index of the BSE. Its value is derived from the weighted average value of the top 30 companies listed on BSE.
The NSE Nifty is the benchmark index of NSE. Its value is derived from the top 50 companies listed on the exchange in terms of market capitalization & most frequently traded companies.
Difference between Sensex and Nifty
While both Sensex and Nifty are benchmark stock market indices, which represent the strength of the stock market, there are a few key differences between them such as:
Sensex represents the performance of top 30 stocks on BSE whereas Nifty represents the performance of top 50 stocks on NSE.
The base index value of Sensex is 100, whereas the base value index of Nifty is 1000.
While Nifty covers 24 sectors, the Sensex covers 13 sectors.
Nifty’s base period is 3rd November 1995 whereas the base period of Sensex is considered as 1978 – 79.
How is Nifty calculated?
Nifty 50 is calculated using a free-float market capitalisation weighted method.
The price of the Nifty 50 is a reflection of the total market value of all the stocks which constitute the Nifty 50 index relative a base period which is taken as November 3rd, 1995.
How is Sensex calculated?
Sensex is calculated based on the free-float market capitalization of the 30 companies which constitute the index relative to base value of Sensex year in the year 1978-79.
List of Sensex stocks as on 25th October 2021
| Company | Market Capitalization | Company | Market Capitalization | |
| Reliance Industries Ltd. | 1650315.86 | Axis Bank Ltd. | 259159.49 | |
| Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. | 1291893.69 | Larsen & Toubro Ltd. | 250485.28 | |
| HDFC Bank Ltd | 917472.72 | Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. | 219408.30 | |
| Infosys Ltd. | 724383.76 | Titan Company Ltd. | 211350.81 | |
| ICICI Bank Ltd. | 583350.85 | Ultratech Cement Ltd. | 206305.12 | |
| Hindustan Unilever Ltd. | 576989.13 | Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. | 195061.11 | |
| HDFC Ltd. | 523701.73 | Nestle India Ltd. | 180220.26 | |
| Bajaj Finance Ltd. | 461408.64 | Tata Steel Ltd. | 155776.17 | |
| State Bank Of India | 451897.71 | Tech Mahindra Ltd. | 147855.36 | |
| Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. | 427781.76 | NTPC Ltd. | 139486.54 | |
| Bharti Airtel Ltd. | 379361.78 | Power Grid Corporation Of India Ltd. | 134486.73 | |
| HCL Technologies Ltd. | 316399.78 | Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. | 122760.63 | |
| Bajaj Finserv Ltd. | 288001.38 | IndusInd Bank Ltd. | 91133.18 | |
| ITC Ltd. | 287741.22 | Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. | 110774.67 | |
| Asian Paints Ltd. | 279980.24 | Bajaj Auto Ltd. | 108943.79 |
List of Nifty 50 Stocks as on 26th October 2021
| Company Name | Market Capitalization | Company Name | Market Capitalization | |
| Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. | 1,51,926.75 | Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. | 1,24,266.90 | |
| Asian Paints Ltd. | 2,79,812.38 | IndusInd Bank Ltd. | 88,887.37 | |
| Axis Bank Ltd. | 2,57,610.76 | Infosys Ltd. | 7,14,957.92 | |
| Bajaj Auto Ltd. | 1,09,800.32 | JSW Steel Ltd. | 1,65,579.60 | |
| Bajaj Finance Ltd. | 4,67,906.34 | Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. | 4,42,635.09 | |
| Bajaj Finserv Ltd. | 2,89,738.36 | Larsen & Toubro Ltd. | 2,51,953.15 | |
| Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. | 92,985.02 | Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. | 1,10,768.46 | |
| Bharti Airtel Ltd. | 3,88,903.20 | Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. | 2,18,992.94 | |
| Britannia Industries Ltd. | 88,639.53 | NTPC Ltd. | 1,38,856.26 | |
| Cipla Ltd. | 73,058.62 | Nestle India Ltd. | 1,84,956.68 | |
| Coal India Ltd. | 1,06,676.83 | Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. | 2,05,373.06 | |
| Divi’s Laboratories Ltd. | 1,33,180.28 | Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. | 1,32,987.01 | |
| Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. | 77,575.13 | Reliance Industries Ltd. | 17,10,339.25 | |
| Eicher Motors Ltd. | 70,699.39 | SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd. | 1,17,475.05 | |
| Grasim Industries Ltd. | 1,15,442.86 | Shree Cement Ltd. | 1,00,427.51 | |
| HCL Technologies Ltd. | 3,15,490.70 | State Bank of India | 4,58,725.03 | |
| HDFC Bank Ltd. | 9,15,313.11 | Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. | 1,94,346.13 | |
| HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd. | 1,39,596.12 | Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. | 12,87,658.28 | |
| Hero MotoCorp Ltd. | 53,895.48 | Tata Consumer Products Ltd. | 74,313.93 | |
| Hindalco Industries Ltd. | 1,08,942.69 | Tata Motors Ltd. | 1,65,733.16 | |
| Hindustan Unilever Ltd. | 5,70,574.74 | Tata Steel Ltd. | 1,48,967.00 | |
| Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd. | 5,27,870.70 | Tech Mahindra Ltd. | 1,52,100.21 | |
| ICICI Bank Ltd. | 5,73,760.78 | Titan Company Ltd. | 2,17,818.33 | |
| ITC Ltd. | 2,88,263.89 | UPL Ltd. | 54335.09 | |
| UltraTech Cement Ltd. | 2,10,368.01 | Wipro Ltd. | 3,66,201.60 |
Closing thoughts
BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty are both indices which track the performance of basket of securities on the BSE and NSE respectively. These indices can be used as reference point to understand and analyze the performance of stock markets.
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– Written and contributed by Pradeep Sukumaran.
