If you've kept up with the stock market in India, you understand the Indian IT sector's important role in India's economy. Indian IT companies have made a global impact, from software services to global outsourcing. The Nifty IT Index shows how Indian IT companies are performing as an overall group.
This index includes India’s leading and most active information technology companies listed on the National Stock Exchange. These companies work across areas such as software development, consulting, and business process outsourcing. When you look at the Nifty IT Index, you get a quick snapshot of how the technology industry in India is moving.
The index employs a free-float market capitalisation technique for its calculation. The index gets revised and redefined every year to reflect the actual state of the market. The Nifty IT Index is your benchmark for measuring how India’s technology sector and information technology business tick. It allows you to track the market, identify trends, and monitor the state of the IT industry.
What is Nifty IT?
The Nifty IT Index – or Nifty Information Technology Index – is an index designed to reflect the performance of India's largest IT companies on the National Stock Exchange. "Nifty IT" stands for National Stock Exchange Fifty – Information Technology.
It consists of companies that engage in the areas of Information Technology services, software, consulting, and outsourcing. Most of the companies operate as exporters of IT services - meaning they derive a large part of their revenue from their global clients.
For you, the Nifty IT Index works like a benchmark. It shows how the overall IT industry is doing and how investor confidence in the tech sector is changing. Because the IT industry is closely linked to global demand and digital transformation, the index also reflects how technology drives India’s economic growth.
Tracking the Nifty IT Index gives you a simple way to understand how the country’s top technology companies move with global trends.
How is Nifty IT Calculated?
The Nifty IT Index is calculated using the free-float market capitalisation method. This means it only considers shares that are available for public trading and leaves out shares held by promoters.
1. Method Used: The Nifty IT Index is calculated using the free-float market capitalisation method.
2. Formula:
Nifty IT Index=Current Market Capitalisation/Base Market Capitalisation × Base Value
3. Step-by-Step Process:
Step 1: Calculate each company’s free-float market capitalisation:
Free-Float Market Cap = Share Price×Number of Free-Float Shares
Step 2: Add the free-float market capitalisations of all companies included in the Nifty IT Index to get the total free-float market capitalisation.
Step 3: Divide the total free-float market capitalisation by a divisor.
Index Value=Total Free-Float Market Cap/Divisor
Step 4: Adjust the divisor whenever corporate actions (like stock splits, bonus issues, or rights issues) occur to maintain index continuity.
Step 5: Review the index composition twice a year to ensure that only companies meeting liquidity, trading volume, and free-float criteria remain part of the index.
Result: The resulting figure represents how India’s top and most liquid technology companies collectively perform in the stock market, giving you a true reflection of sector trends.
Additional Read: What is NIFTY?
Benefits of Investing in Nifty IT
When you monitor or invest in the Nifty IT Index, you can observe how the technology sector in India performs. Several advantages can be observed from this position in the market:
Exposure to an Expanding Industry: The IT space is still growing with increasing demand globally for software, digital solutions, and outsourcing. If you track the Nifty IT Index, you can keep your eye on this evolution.
Broader Diversification: Investing indirectly, through the Nifty IT Index, will give you multiple companies to follow all at once, which significantly reduces the risk you take on over a single stock’s performance.
How to Invest in the Nifty IT Index?
There are a few simple methods of investing in the Nifty IT Index, depending on your preference:
Buying Direct Shares: You can also buy individual shares of IT companies in the index, for example, Infosys, TCS or HCL Tech. This way, you would have direct stock ownership and flexibility.
Review Expense Ratios: Prior to investing in an ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund) or fund, one would want to compare the expense ratios. Lower costs, more often than not, would provide better value or an overall gain.
Stay Updated: Be aware of developments that are occurring in the IT space, such as new technologies, foreign demands, and government policy. The aforementioned can impact the index values.
Conclusion
The Nifty IT Index depicts the performance of leading IT companies in India and the valuable contribution of the sector as a driver for the economy. A few of the companies represented are in software, engineering, consulting services, and digital transformation.
Following the Nifty IT Index shows you how India's digital economy is reshaping itself, as the influence of technology continues to change the market. It allows you to follow the changes in the industry, monitor business cycles and recognise trends shaping India's rightful place as a player in the global context of technology.
Monitoring the Nifty IT index presents a straightforward picture of the country's most prominent technology companies, providing evidence of growth and how companies adapt to a rapidly changing world.