Sensex was intended to stand for the Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30 firms’ most popular market index.

Some of the largest corporations in this nation with the most actively traded equities are among the component companies listed in this index today.

The S&P BSE Index Committee chooses the companies that will be included under it based on the following five criteria:

Companies must be listed on the Indian Bombay Stock Exchange.
It has to be made up of big- or mega-cap stocks.
It must be mostly liquid.
It must make money from its core operations.
To keep the sector in balance with the nation’s equity market, businesses must participate.

It has had remarkable expansion ever since it first opened in the 1990s, particularly after 2000. For instance, information technology firms contributed to the index’s first crossing of the 6000 threshold in 2002. The significant rise in India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) since the turn of the century is responsible for this growth curve.

Axis Bank, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, Coal India, HCL Technologies, Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Larsen & Toubro, and others are a few of the businesses included in this index.

Who owns Sensex?

Foundation	1 January 1986
Operator	ASIA INDEX Pvt. Ltd.
Exchanges	BSE
Trading symbol	^BSESN

What is the Full Form of Sensex?

Stock Exchange Sensitive Index is the official name of SENSEX. SENSEX, previously known as BSE (Bombay Stock market), is the oldest stock market in India. It is a free-floating, economy-weighted index made up of 30 very reputable, financially stable companies that are listed on the BSE. In India, these businesses are also known as Blue chip corporations. The 30 component companies, which are among the most prosperous and actively traded equities in India, represent a variety of industries.

How Does the Sensex Work?

The 30 largest and most liquid public firms in India make up the S&P BSE Sensex index, also known as the Sensex or Sensex Index. The Bombay Stock Exchange, the biggest in India and one of the biggest in the world, is where the firms that make up the Sensex are chosen from. The Sensex is widely used by investors throughout the globe as a gauge of the overall health of the Indian economy, which has experienced rapid expansion in recent years.

How is Sensex Calculated?

To guarantee that it accurately reflects the state of the stock market, BSE periodically adjusts the share composition of the Sensex. The index was first determined using a weighted method of market capitalization.

But this computation approach has been updated since 2003 and now incorporates a free-float capitalization method.

This free-float technique is an alternative to the market-capitalization method in which the index is calculated using the number of shares available for sale under a corporation rather than the number of outstanding shares. Thus, restricted stocks (those held by corporate insiders) that are not for sale are not included in this strategy.

The formula for the same is-

Free Float Market Capitalization = Market Capitalization x Free Float Factor

The ratio of issued shares to outstanding shares is this factor. The index level constantly represents the free-float value of the 30 listed firms under the Sensex, relative to a base period, in accordance with this free-float capitalization technique.

How To Invest In Sensex?

The essential actions to take before beginning your investment in the Sensex are as follows:

Opening a Demat Account

It is crucial to have a Demat account where your shares are stored electronically.

Open a Trading Account

You should register to start a trading account after opening a Demat account. Since the BSE does not permit the sale or purchase of securities directly. A trading account makes it simple to buy and sell assets online.

Having a Bank Account

To trade on the Sensex, an investor needs a bank account, a PAN card, in addition to a Demat and trading account.

Sensex 30 Companies: Their Weightage in The Index [2023]

SL	WEIGHT(%)	Name	Industry	Price	Mcap Full (Cr.)	M.Cap FF (Cr.)
1	11.95	RIL	Integrated Oil & Gas	2555.95	16,51,687.33	8,25,843.67
2	10.38	HDFC Bank	Banks	1508.6	9,07,505.07	7,16,929.00
3	9.37	ICICI Bank	Banks	908.35	6,47,532.81	6,47,532.81
4	7.1	HDFC	Personal Products	2497.25	4,95,541.41	4,90,586.00
5	6.5	Infosys	IT Consulting & Software	1530.5	5,22,358.84	4,49,228.60
6	5.48	ITC	Cigarettes,Tobacco Products	353.75	5,32,975.54	3,78,412.63
7	4.79	TCS	IT Consulting & Software	3207.15	11,82,184.61	3,31,011.69
8	4.16	L&T	Construction & Engineering	2006.9	3,34,188.53	2,87,402.13
9	4.1	Kotak Mahindra Bank	Banks	1899.85	3,83,077.64	2,83,477.45
10	3.43	Axis Bank	Banks	863.95	2,66,196.52	2,36,914.90
11	3.23	HUL	Housing Finance	2546.35	5,87,632.77	2,23,300.45
12	3.2	SBI	Banks	584.8	5,14,370.01	2,21,179.10
13	2.8	Bharti Airtel	Telecom Services	818.4	4,39,153.22	1,93,227.42
14	2.46	Bajaj Finance	Holding Companies	7121.6	3,86,764.29	1,70,176.29
15	1.97	Asian Paints	Furniture,Furnishing,Paints	3140.5	2,88,900.78	1,35,783.37
16	1.72	Maruti Suzuki India	Cars & Utility Vehicles	9236.35	2,69,671.40	1,18,655.42
17	1.68	M&M	Cars & Utility Vehicles	1335.7	1,50,777.87	1,16,098.96
18	1.65	Titan Co	Other Apparels & Accessories	2763.25	2,42,805.08	1,14,118.39
19	1.62	HCL Tech	IT Consulting & Software	1044.8	2,86,413.78	1,11,701.38
20	1.52	Sun Pharma	Pharmaceuticals	1044	2,32,838.00	1,04,777.10
21	1.27	UltraTech Cement	Cement & Cement Products	6727.55	2,20,195.51	88,078.20
22	1.27	Tata Steel	Iron & Steel/Interm.Products	102.2	1,32,769.30	87,627.74
23	1.2	NTPC	Electric Utilities	178.15	1,68,915.92	82,768.80
24	1.19	Power Grid	Electric Utilities	228.05	1,68,073.54	82,356.03
25	1.19	Bajaj Finserv	Finance (including NBFCs)	1723.25	2,16,551.23	82,289.47
26	1.14	Nestle India	Packaged Foods	20418.8	2,12,197.97	78,513.25
27	1.01	IndusInd Bank	Banks	1148.15	83,335.02	70,001.42
28	0.94	Tech Mahindra	IT Consulting & Software	1052.95	1,01,006.06	64,643.88
29	0.87	Dr Reddy’s Labs	Pharmaceuticals	4592.35	82,209.14	60,012.67
30	0.81	Wipro	IT Consulting & Software	388.65	2,08,272.64	56,233.61

What is S&P BSE Sensex?

It serves as a leading indicator of the Indian economy. This index contains 30 stocks with a number. These 30 businesses are the biggest and most liquid in their respective industries. They are authentic representatives of their sector or business because of their size and trading volume. Companies from a variety of industries and areas are also included in the index. The index, like the Sensex, is able to reflect the economy’s progress thanks to this diversity of businesses.

S&P BSE Sensex’s base year is 1978-1979. Sensex debuted on January 1, 1986.

Sector/Industry Weightage in Sensex

Currently, 18 sectors (industries) are represented by the Sensex 30 businesses. The list of industries this bellwether index covers is provided below. Each sector’s weight is also mentioned.

The index is heavily weighted towards the banking industry, with IT and Oil & Gas following closely behind.

Industry	WEIGHT
Integrated Oil & Gas	11.84%
Banks	31.86%
Personal Products	7.29%
IT Consulting & Software	14.61%
Cigarettes,Tobacco Products	5.43%
Construction & Engineering	4.13%
Housing Finance	3.17%
Telecom Services	2.84%
Holding Companies	2.42%
Furniture,Furnishing,Paints	1.89%
Cars & Utility Vehicles	3.35%
Other Apparels & Accessories	1.59%
Pharmaceuticals	2.41%
Cement & Cement Products	1.26%
Iron & Steel/Interm.Products	1.26%
Finance (including NBFCs)	1.18%
Electric Utilities	2.35%
Packaged Foods	1.12%
–	100.00%