A look at Sensex's 13-year journey from 10,000 to 40,000 levels

The S&P BSE Sensex hit the 40,000 mark on Thursday, after trends showed Narendra Modi - led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) sweeping to power in the Lok Sabha elections 2019. While most experts had predicted Modi-led NDA to come back to power for the second consecutive term, markets, they said, had been discounting this.

The recent rally has been led by financial stocks. On Thursday, the Nifty Bank index (up 1.9 per cent) has been one of the top gainers with IndusInd Bank, Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India (SBI), YES Bank and ICICI Bank among the key gainers, ACE Equity data show.

"Markets were looking for stability, continuity and strong leadership rather than a fractured mandate - this has led to the new high. We believe India allocation from global funds will increase and more ETF flows are likely over the short term that could drive the markets even higher," said B Gopkumar, ED and CEO, Reliance Securities in an emailed note.

The Sensex, as it was known then, crossed over to the five-figure level - the 10,000-mark - for the first time on February 6, 2006. It took the index over 13 years to hit the 40,000 levels.

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While the index constitution has undergone a change since it hit the 10,000 mark back in 2006, most constituients that comprise the index now have given a positive return over the past 13 years. 

IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Maruti Suzuki and Hindustan Unilever (HUL) have moved up between 800 per cent to 2832 per cent in the past 13 years. 

Bajaj Finance tops this list with a whooping gain of 7,575 per cent in 13 years (till close of trade on May 22). Bajaj Finance entered the elite club of companies with a market capitalisation (market-cap) of Rs 2 trillion after the company's stock price hit a new high on the BSE in intra-day trade on Tuesday.

In the past 14 months, Bajaj Finance's stock has more-than-doubled from the level of Rs 1,702 on the BSE. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 19 per cent during the same period.

Company Name	Close (Rs)	Change (%)*
Bajaj Finance	3447.70	7575.1
IndusInd Bank	1517.55	2832.5
Kotak Mahindra Bank	1495.50	2327.3
Asian Paints	1366.75	1832.3
HDFC Bank	2405.10	1515.0
Axis Bank	779.30	1064.0
Tata Consultancy Services	2082.75	892.0
Maruti Suzuki India	6904.10	837.7
Hindustan Unilever	1766.15	808.7
Yes Bank	137.70	771.5
HDFC	2140.60	700.0
Reliance Industries	1340.70	644.7
HCL Technologies	1059.20	606.5
Larsen & Toubro	1460.55	483.4
ITC	299.55	473.3
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries	420.65	422.8
Mahindra & Mahindra	640.95	355.5
State Bank Of India	340.85	317.8
Infosys	709.20	298.9
ICICI Bank	405.50	267.3
Vedanta	166.45	218.4
Hero MotoCorp	2698.80	210.0
Bharti Airtel	335.05	97.5
Tata Steel	473.70	38.4
Oil & Natural Gas Corporation	176.55	33.5
NTPC	129.60	31.5
Tata Motors	179.45	27.5
Change between Feb 6, 2006 and May 2019; Price on BSE on May 22
Data Source: ACE Equity