Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, is expanding its Dow Jones Global Titans family by adding a blue-chip index for India. The launch of the Dow Jones India Titans 30 was announced today by Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corporation in Mumbai, India. Dow Jones Indexes is a business unit of Dow Jones & Company, a News Corporation company (NYSE: NWS, NWS.A; ASX: NWS, NWSLV).
Mr. Murdoch said: “Today, I am excited to announce the launch of a new blue-chip index for India. We are unveiling the Dow Jones India Titans -- a 30-stock index tracking the stock-market performance of prominent Indian companies. It will be licensed to financial institutions as the basis of investment products, such as exchange-traded funds. “
Mr. Murdoch added: “The growing importance of India to the world and to Dow Jones and News Corporation is obvious to all. What the world needs is a trusted means of measuring this country’s development and an index that can be used by investors around the world to track the progress of Indian companies and the Indian economy. We will see huge capital flows both from and to India in coming years and that is an opportunity for us as a financial information company, as well as for international investors who want to take advantage of this profound trend.”
The Dow Jones India Titans 30 Index measures the performance of the 30 largest and most liquid stocks listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India. The final composition of the index is based on ranking by free-float market capitalization and 12-month average daily trading volume.
The top five companies in the index by free float market capitalization are: Reliance Industries Ltd. (Basic Materials), Infosys Technologies Ltd. (Technology), HDFC Ltd. (Financials), Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Telecommunications), and Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (Industrials). The three biggest sectors represented in the index are Financials, Basic Materials, and Oil & Gas.
The Dow Jones India Titans 30 Index is free-float market capitalization weighted with individual components capped at 10%. The index is calculated in U.S. dollar and Indian rupee and reviewed annually in March. As of July 31, 2008, the Dow Jones India Titans 30 (U.S. $) has gained 62.03% back tested from its base date, December 31, 20051. Daily index history is available back to December 31, 2005. The full list of companies, including weighting and values of the Dow Jones India Titans 30 Index, is available on www.djindexes.com