BSE, formerly the Bombay Stock Exchange, and S&P Dow Jones Indices have cemented their Mumbai-based joint venture with the launch of Asia Index.
BSE and S&P Dow Jones Indices have cemented their joint venture with the launch of Asia Index Pvt. Ltd. (File image)
The newly incorporated company, which builds on the firms’ strategic partnership announced in February, has been established to calculate, disseminate and license the S&P BSE suite of indices.
The 50/50 joint venture brings together BSE’s closely watched India index suite, which includes the well known S&P BSE SENSEX, underlying index to a host of exchange-traded funds, with S&P Dow Jones Indices’ 115 years of experience in publishing global benchmarks.
It is hoped the new company will raise the profile of the SENSEX and other S&P BSE indices, whilst also enabling S&P Dow Jones to further implement its South Asia growth strategy, establish a fourth major operational hub by which to support clients globally, and act as a springboard for additional index initiatives in the Asean region.
Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD & CEO of BSE, said: “BSE is delighted to see the next stage in our partnership with S&P Dow Jones Indices get off the ground with the formation of Asia Index Private Limited. It will bring additional focus to our efforts to serve investors and develop new business in an area of tremendous potential in India and the entire South Asia geography.”
Alka Banerjee, CEO of Asia Index, added: “India, as well as all of South Asia and the Asean region, is a market of great strategic importance to S&P Dow Jones Indices. We are excited about the launch of Asia Index Pvt. Ltd, and look forward to working closely with the BSE to meet the increasing demands of this critical market segment.”
In addition to the blue-chip SENSEX and other widely followed broad-based indices such as the S&P BSE 500, Asia Index becomes the home to a number of specialist indices. These include a range of thematic indices, comprising Shariah, green and carbon-friendly exposures; investment strategy indices, such as a pair of indices tracking recently floated companies; a suite of sector indices based on the S&P BSE 500; and an index measuring the realised volatility of the SENSEX.
The latest addition to this wide-ranging offering – and the first to be launched out of the BSE / S&P Dow Jones partnership – is the S&P BSE 500 Shariah Index, an index measuring the performance of all Shariah-compliant stocks within the broad-based S&P BSE 500 Index.