Now Shariah indices for India

Global index provider Standard and Poor's on Tuesday launched two new investable Shariah indices for the Indian equities market in partnership with India Index Services and Products.

The two new Shariah indices - S&P CNX 500 Shariah and S&P CNX Nifty Shariah - are derived from the benchmark 50-share index S&P CNX Nifty and S&P CNX 500, which are the leading gauges of the Indian equity market, an S&P release said.

The top ten constituents in S&P CNX 500 Shariah and S&P CNX Nifty Shariah include corporate behemoth Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, IT major Infosys Technologies, telecom firm Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Tata Steel, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, Satyam Computer Services and Reliance Energy.

"These new Shariah-compliant indices provide investors with a comparable investable portfolio, while adopting explicit selection criteria defined by Islamic law. They are indicative of the appetite among investors for investable Shariah-compliant indices covering all types of markets," Standard & Poor's Vice President of Index Services Alka Banerjee said.

Each of the new indices typically cover over 60 per cent of the market capitalisation of the parent index, though this can vary depending on the number of companies found compliant. Historical performance analysis, however, indicates that there is a great correlation between the underlying indices and their new Shariah-compliant versions, the release said.