NSE to rebrand flagship index as Nifty 50

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday said it will rebrand its flagship index the "CNX Nifty" as "Nifty 50" from November 9.

Furthermore, the NSE group subsidiary India Index Services and Products Limited (IISL) will rebrand other indices, such as the CNX 100, CNX 200, CNX 500, CNX Midcap and CNX Smallcap.

"Over the years, Nifty 50 has become synonymous with Indian equity market both domestically and internationally. Inclusion of Nifty in the name of IISL's indices will enhance the acceptability of products linked to Nifty family worldwide," Chitra Ramkrishna, managing director and chief executive of NSE was quoted in a statement as saying.

"Ever increasing participation in Nifty indices indicates that interests in Indian market are growing," she added.

Nifty 50 "options" traded on the NSE are the largest traded "contracts" globally in equity index options category.

Besides the NSE, Nifty derivatives are also traded on Singapore Exchange, Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Osaka Exchange.

Further, 97 percent of the total asset under management of equity ETFs (exchange traded funds) in India are linked to Nifty family of indices.

The total "ETF AUM" (assets under management) tracking Nifty family of indices globally is around $2.24 billion.

Currently, there are six international ETFs, 11 domestic ETFs and 14 index funds based on Nifty 50 index.

In addition to the Nifty 50, there are 18 domestic ETFs and index funds which are linked to other IISL indices.