MUMBAI: The Sensex, the 30-share markets benchmark that just celebrated its 40th birthday, has given whopping returns of 15,594%—from 524 points at launch on January 1, 1986 to 86,159 points at its peak last November.
The Sensex is the benchmark index of the BSE, the oldest stock exchange in Asia, which was founded on July 9, 1875 by a group of 22 stockbrokers led by Premchand Roychand under a banyan tree as the Native Share & Stock Brokers Association. It was officially recognized by the government in 1956.
Only four -- Reliance, L&T, ITC and Hindustan Unilever-- of the original 30 stocks continue to be in the index for all these 40 years while some others like Tata Motors (39 years), Tata Steel (38 years) and SBI (37 years) have briefly exited before returning. These 30 stocks represent 40% of the market capitalisation of all BSE stocks.
The Sensex crossed 1,000 points in 1990, scaled the 5,000-mark in 1999, 10,000-mark in 2006, 20000-mark in 2007, 30,000-mark in 2015, 40,000-mark in 2019, 50,000-mark in 2021, 70,000-mark in 2023, 85,000-mark in 2024 and peaked at 86,159 in November 2025.
The index’s best show was on May 18, 2009 when it rallied 17.34% after the Manmohan Singh government returned to power, while the second best was on March 24, 1992 when it rallied 13.14%. The worst day for the index was on March 23, 2020 when the government announced a nationwide lockdown in the wake of the Covid pandemic, while the second worst day was on April 28, 1992 when the Harshad Mehta scam broke.
While during these 40 years, the GDP grew at a compounded rate of 12.97%, the Sensex gave 13.40%, BSE chief executive Sundararaman Ramamurthy said.
Addressing a gathering at the BSE Towers here Friday to celebrate 40 years of the index, Sebi chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said the achievement of the Sensex represents the institutional journey of India's securities market and its role in supporting economic growth, enterprise and wealth creation of households.
“Very few institutions anywhere in the world have witnessed and endured so many global crises such as the two world wars, the great depression of 1929, oil shock, dot-com bubble burst, the global financial crisis and more recently the Covid-19 pandemic, Ukraine crisis and many other geopolitical challenges. The BSE is one such institution, its longevity itself is a testament to resilience, adaptability and trust,” Pandey said.
Over the past four decades, the Sensex has stood the test of time as a robust market indicator, mirroring our economic transformation and the growing maturity of our capital markets, he said. The Sensex today stands not merely as an index, but as a testament to our capital markets journey, one shaped by continuity, reform, institutional strength, and a forward-looking embrace of technology, Pandey added.