Two Shariah indices for India opened

S&P CNX Shariah on Tuesday announced the launch of S&P CNX 500 Shariah and S&P CNX Nifty Shariah in a move to capture the movement of Shariah compliant stocks in the Indian stock market for Islamic investors.

S&P CNX Shariah is a partnership between Standard & Poors and India Index Services & Products.

The S&P CNX 500 Shariah is derived from the S&P CNX 500, the complete benchmark for the Indian stock market. 

LIQUIDITY IN THE OFFING
Company	Market cap (Rs crore)	CNX 500 Shariah (%)	CNX Nifty Shariah (%)
Reliance Industries	17,91,52	13.58	18.22
Larsen & Toubro	10,22,99	7.75	10.40
Infosys Technologies	738,10	5.59	7.51
Bharti Airtel	567,92	4.30	5.78
Reliance Comm	426,16	3.23	4.33
Tata Steel	376,90	2.86	3.83
Bharat Heavy Electricals	352,17	2.67	3.58
ONGC	348,41	2.64	3.54
Satyam Computer	268,28	2.03	2.73
Reliance Energy	263,91	2.00	2.68

"The S&P CNX 500 covers more than 90 per cent of the total market capitalization and exceeds 80 per cent of the total traded volumes on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The S&P CNX Nifty Shariah is based on the S&P CNX Nifty, which represents the largest and most liquid companies listed on the NSE," said a release.

Each Shariah compliant index represents the Indian equity market and has a high correlation to the underlying index. It provides a comparable investable portfolio to the investors, while adopting selection criteria defined by Islamic law.

Shariah is Islamic canonical law based on the teachings of the Koran. An independent research group, Ratings Intelligence Partners (RI), screens stocks for compliance with the Shariah board before including them in the index.

The S&P Index Committee collaborates with RI to apply a set of independent and objective guidelines for the day-to-day maintenance of each Shariah index.

Ratings Intelligence Partners is a London/Kuwait-based consulting company specializing in solutions for the global Islamic investment market. It has a team of qualified Islamic researchers who work directly with a Shariah Supervisory Board.

The company continually engages with regional banks to create Shariah-compliant equity products and expand the investment offerings.

Shariah Supervisory Board constitutes Islamic scholars who interpret business issues and recommend action related to the indices.