Dow Jones Islamic Mkt India Index to serve as benchmark

Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, announced today that the Dow Jones Islamic Market (DJIM) India Index has been licensed to HSBC Asset Management India Ltd, to serve as a benchmark of an actively managed portfolio.

This is first time the Dow Jones Islamic Market India Index has been licensed for this purpose, a statement released here today said.

"India has gained increasing importance in the global investment community over the past few years. The Dow Jones Islamic Market India Index allows market participants to track Shari'ah-compliant stocks in India by following the sophisticated methodology of the unique Dow Jones Islamic Market indexes series," President of Dow Jones Indexes Michael A Petronella said.

"We are pleased to be one of the first players to bring a Shari'ah-compliant product offering to the Indian market. With our local investment knowledge and global expertise in managing Islamic funds, we aim to make investing a rewarding experience for our investors,¿ said HSBC Asset Management (India) CEO Vikramaaditya.

Launched on December 12, 2007, the Dow Jones Islamic Market India Index measures the performance of Shari'ah-compliant stocks traded at the Bombay Stock Exchange.

As of January 29, 2009, the index consists of 201 components: the top three components by float-adjusted market capitalisation are Reliance Industries Ltd, Infosys Technologies Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd.

Launched in 1999, the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes seek to measure the global universe of investable equities that pass screens for Shari'ah compliance.

The Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes combine Islamic investment principles with Dow Jones Indexes¿ objective, transparent and rules-based methodology. The index family includes more than 90 regional, country and industry indexes derived from the flagship Dow Jones Islamic Market World Index.

In 2006, the index family was expanded to include the Dow Jones Islamic Market Sustainability Index, which combines Islamic investing principles with sustainability criteria, and Dow Jones Citigroup Sukuk Index, the first index to track Islamic bonds. Islamic indexes for the ASEAN and GCC regions, Hong Kong-listed Chinese stocks and Malaysian blue-chips were launched last year.

There are currently more than 75 licencees with more than USD 7 billion in assets benchmarked to the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes.

On the other hand, the DJIM India Index is weighted by float-adjusted market capitalisation and component weights are capped at 10 per cent. The index is reviewed quarterly in March, June, September and December and calculated in US dollar and Indian Rupee. Daily history is available back to December 30, 2005.