6 days ago

What is the newly launched Nifty 500 Ahimsa Index?

The National Stock Exchange of India has unveiled the Nifty 500 Ahimsa Index, a free-float market capitalisation-weighted benchmark designed for cruelty-free, value-driven investment strategies.

The index, introduced this month (July 2026), selects its constituents from the broader Nifty 500 universe. It utilises a specialised screening methodology developed in collaboration with the Ahimsagain Foundation, applying the Ahimsa Investment Movement (AIM) framework to evaluate eligible enterprises.

The screening mechanism classifies about 1,100 evaluated companies into three distinct tiers – green, orange and red – and only companies rated ‘green’ will be included in the Ahimsa index. The index would undergo semi-annual reviews in March and September.

Businesses operating within the orange and red categories are excluded. The framework screens out firms that inflict intentional harm through products, services, or internal business practices.

Back-tested to a base date of April 1, 2016, with a starting value of 1,000, the index has achieved a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.11 per cent, since its inception.

Sectoral allocation within the benchmark is led by automobile and auto components at 13.05 per cent, capital goods at 12.20 per cent, and Information Technology at 11.80 per cent. Prominent constituents comprising the top holdings include Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and Maruti Suzuki. The index excludes all banking equities and firms associated with the Reliance Industries group.

The index is weighted based on free-float market capitalisation and undergoes semi-annual reviews in March and September.

The benchmark will serve as a reference point for asset managers, facilitating the creation of passive investment vehicles such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs), index funds, and structured products.

Proponents state that cruelty-free investing remains limited within the sector, with traditional portfolios often indirectly supporting industries linked to animal processing. The initiative aims to provide institutional and retail participants with a transparent mechanism to direct capital toward ethical alternatives.

11 new sectoral indices

Apart from the Ahimsa Index, the NSE recently introduced 11 new sectoral indices to split massive, complex industries into focused benchmarks.

With the addition of Ahimsa index, the total number of sectoral indices on NSE rose to 34. The new indices are expected to act as benchmarks for asset managers and be reference indices tracked by passive funds in the form of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), index funds and structured products, an NSE release issued on June 15 said.

The other indices are Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services, Nifty IT and Nifty Auto, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Pharma, Nifty Metal, Nifty Oil & Gas, Nifty Power, Nifty Consumer Durables, Nifty Healthcare, Nifty Capital Goods, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Financial Services 25/50, Nifty Realty, Nifty Media, Nifty Chemicals, Nifty Cement, Nifty Construction, Nifty Telecommunications, Nifty Consumer Services, Nifty NBFC, Nifty Housing Finance, Nifty Insurance, Nifty Retail, Nifty Hospitals, Nifty Commercial & Transport Services, Nifty Financial Services Ex-Bank, Nifty REITs & Realty, Nifty500 Healthcare, Nifty MidSmall Financial Services, Nifty MidSmall Healthcare, and Nifty MidSmall IT & Telecom.