BSE, S&P Dow Jones Indices launch S&P BSE 500 Shariah index

The BSE and S&P Dow Jones Indices have launched an Islamic equity index -- S&P BSE 500 Shariah index -- comprising the largest 500 companies in the Indian index.

The S&P BSE 500 Shariah index, the first index from the strategic partnership between BSE and S&P Dow Jones Indices in February this year, was designed to represent all Shariah- compliant stocks of the broad-based S&P BSE 500 index.

"We are delighted to see the launch of the first joint product to come out of the partnership between BSE and S&P Dow Jones Indices," BSE Managing Director and Chief Executive Ashishkumar Chauhan has said in a statement.

"The product will serve an important role in measuring this segment of the market," he added.

Shariah, an Islamic canonical law, has certain structures regarding finance and commercial activities permitted for Muslims.

"This is an exciting landmark moment for our partnership, which aims to provide market participants with the relevant and transparent index solutions needed to gauge the performance of various market sectors while facilitating access to the world's financial markets," said Alka Banerjee, Managing Director of Global Equity Indices at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

The S&P BSE 500 Shariah index meets the need for an investable benchmark in India to gauge the performance of some of the most widely followed Shariah compliant stocks trading at the BSE.

BSE and S&P Dow Jones Indices had on February 19, 2013, announced a strategic partnership to calculate, disseminate, and licence the widely followed suite of BSE indices.

The BSE roped in S&P Dow Jones Indices to use the S&P brand for Sensex and other indices such as BSE 200 and BSE 100.

The partnership brings together BSE's closely watched India index suite, which includes the Sensex, with S&P Dow Jones Indices' 115 years of experience in publishing uncompromised global benchmarks.

The S&P BSE 500 consists of 500 of the largest, most liquid Indian stocks. The S&P BSE 500 represents nearly 93% of the total market capitalisation on the BSE and covers all 20 major industries of the economy.