The NIFTY 50 is a benchmark Indian stock market index that represents the weighted average of 50 of the largest Indian companies listed on the National Stock Exchange.^[1][2]

Nifty 50 is owned and managed by NSE Indices (previously known as India Index Services & Products Limited), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the NSE Strategic Investment Corporation Limited.^[3][4] NSE Indices had a marketing and licensing agreement with Standard & Poor's for co-branding equity indices until 2013. The Nifty 50 index was launched on 22 April 1996, and is one of the many stock indices of Nifty.^[1]

The NIFTY 50 index has shaped up to be the largest single financial product in India, with an ecosystem consisting of exchange-traded funds (onshore and offshore), and futures and options at NSE and NSE International Exchange (through GIFT Nifty, operated by NSEIX at GIFT City).^[5][6] NIFTY 50 is the world's most actively traded contract. WFE, IOM and FIA surveys have endorsed NSE's leadership position.^[7][8] Between 2008 and 2012, the NIFTY 50 index's share of NSE market fell from 65% to 29%^[9] due to the rise of sectoral indices like NIFTY Bank, NIFTY IT, NIFTY Pharma, and NIFTY Next 50.

The NIFTY 50 index covers 13 sectors of the Indian economy and offers investment managers exposure to the Indian market in one portfolio. As of March 2024, NIFTY 50 gives a weightage of 33.53% to financial services including banking, 13.04% to information technology, 12.87% to oil and gas, 8.15% to consumer goods, and 7.57% to automotive.^[1]

The NIFTY 50 index is a free float market capitalisation-weighted index.

Stocks are added to the index based on the following criteria:^[1]

1. Must have traded at an average impact cost of 0.50% or less during the last six months for 90% of the observations, for the basket size of Rs. 100 Million.
2. The company should have a listing history of 6 months.
3. Companies that are allowed to trade in F&O segment are only eligible to be constituent of the index.
4. The Company should have a minimum listing history of 1 month as on the cutoff date

The index was initially calculated on a full market capitalization methodology. On 26 June 2009, the computation was changed to a free-float methodology.^[10] The base period for the NIFTY 50 index is 3 November 1995, which marked the completion of one year of operations of the equity market segment on NSE. The base value of the index has been set at 1000 and a base capital of ₹ 2.06 trillion.^[1][11]

The index is re-balanced on semi-annual basis. The cut-off date is January 31 and July 31 every year and average data for the previous six months from the cut-off date is considered to filter stocks. A notice of 4 weeks from the date of change is given to market participants so that they can prepare for any changes.^[1]

The Nifty 50 has the following constituents, as of 28 March 2024.

Changes in index constituents since Nifty 50 adopted free float criteria in 2009:

This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2020)

Following are some of the notable single-day falls of the NIFTY 50 Index.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (April 2022)

Following are some of the notable single-day gains of the NIFTY 50 Index.

The following table shows the annual development of the NIFTY 50 since 2000.^[66] The historical daily returns data can be accessed from the NSE website.^[67]

Trading in futures and options on the NIFTY 50 is offered by the NSE and NSE International Exchange (NSEIX).^[68][69] NSE offers weekly as well as monthly expiry options. It is the second most traded index option in the world after Nifty Bank. ^[70]

NSE allows international traders to trade on the NIFTY 50 by GIFT NIFTY. The same index had previously operated under the name SGX Nifty, and was traded on the Singapore Exchange. It was rebranded to GIFT Nifty on 3 July 2023 and trading was moved to the NSE International Exchange (NSEIX) situated in GIFT City, Gandhinagar.^[71][6][72] The CEO of NSEIX called it a watershed moment since it was the first time India got back an international contract which had previously been exported.^[72][71]

NIFTY Next 50, also called NIFTY Junior, is an index of 50 companies whose free float market capitalisation comes after that of the companies in NIFTY 50. NIFTY Next 50 constituents are thus potential candidates for future inclusion in NIFTY 50.^[73]

• NSE Indices
• BSE SENSEX
• GIFT Nifty
• National Stock Exchange of India
• Bombay Stock Exchange