BSE and S&P Dow Jones Indices have launched the S&P BSE 500 Shariah index, the first index resulting from the partnership formed between the two companies in February this year.
The S&P BSE 500 Shariah index was designed to represent all Shariah compliant stocks of the broad based S&P BSE 500 index.
The S&P BSE 500 consists of 500 of the largest, most liquid Indian stocks trading at the BSE. The S&P BSE 500 represents nearly 93 per cent of the total market capitalisation on the BSE and covers all 20 major industries of the economy.
“We are delighted to see the launch of the first joint product to come out of the partnership between BSE and S&P Dow Jones Indices,” says Ashishkumar Chauhan, managing director and chief executive of BSE. “The product will serve an important role in measuring this segment of the market.”
“This is an exciting landmark moment for our partnership, which aims to provide market participants with the relevant and transparent index solutions needed to gauge the performance of various market sectors while facilitating access to the world’s financial markets,” says Alka Banerjee, managing director of global equity indices at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “The S&P BSE 500 Shariah index meets the need for an investable benchmark in India to gauge the performance of some of the most widely followed Shariah compliant stocks trading at the BSE.”
Shariah is Islamic canonical law, which observant Muslims adhere to in their daily lives. Shariah has certain strictures regarding finance and commercial activities permitted for Muslims.
S&P Dow Jones Indices has contracted with Ratings Intelligence Partners (RI) to provide the Shariah screens and to filter the stocks. Ratings Intelligence Partners is a London/Kuwait- based consulting company specialising in solutions for the global Islamic investment market. Its team consists of qualified Islamic researchers who work directly with a Shariah Supervisory Board.
