Markets
Nifty Alpha 50
Nifty Alpha 50 is an NSE strategy and factor index of 50 stocks. Since 2003 it has compounded 20.3% a year with dividends reinvested; over the past year it rose 8.8%. Its deepest fall was 79%, from Jan 2008 to Mar 2009, and it took 6.6 years from that high to a new one.
Written for anyone who holds, tracks or is thinking of buying Nifty Alpha 50. Data to 14 Oct 2026.
- Trend
- Uptrend since May 2026
- Momentum
- 13th of 133 markets, by rank
- Below its high
- 10.0% total return
- P/E
- 27.9 100th percentile
- 1 year
- +8.8% total return
- 5 years
- 10.8% a year
- 10 years
- 19.8% a year
- Since 2003
- 20.3% a year
- Volatility
- 19.3% past year; usual 21%
NSE launched Nifty Alpha 50 in Nov 2012. Figures before that use NSE's back-calculated history: today's rules applied to the past, chosen with that past in view. Charts mark the launch.
Returns
Total return counts dividends reinvested; price return does not. Since 2003, dividends added about 1.1 percentage points a year. Returns over more than a year are a year, compounded.
Nifty Alpha 50: growth of 100
Weekly, from Dec 2003, log scale: equal slopes are equal rates of growth. Drag the range below the chart to start anywhere; both lines restart at 100.
How to read it. The gap between the two lines is what dividends were worth. It widens slowly and never closes.
Loading chart…
To 14 Oct 2026. Before any fund cost or tax.
| Period | Total return | Price return | Dividends added | More |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 month | −2.4% | −2.5% | +0.1 pts | |
| 3 months | +2.0% | +1.8% | +0.2 pts | |
| 6 months | +11.3% | +10.9% | +0.4 pts | |
| This year | +9.6% | +9.2% | +0.4 pts | |
| 1 year | +8.8% | +8.3% | +0.5 pts | |
| 3 years, a year | +15.4% | +14.7% | +0.6 pts | |
| 5 years, a year | +10.8% | +10.1% | +0.7 pts | |
| 10 years, a year | +19.8% | +18.9% | +0.9 pts | |
| 15 years, a year | +20.2% | +19.3% | +1.0 pts | |
| 20 years, a year | +16.6% | +15.6% | +1.0 pts | |
| Since Dec 2003, a year | +20.3% | +19.2% | +1.1 pts |
Year by year
16 of the 22 full calendar years since 2004 ended higher. 18 of them had a fall of 10% or more from a peak somewhere inside the year, so even good years are rarely smooth.
Nifty Alpha 50: each calendar year
The worst fall is the largest drop from a peak within the year, with the previous year-end as the first peak (the convention of J.P. Morgan's Guide to the Markets). Total return, %.
| Year | Total return | Price return | Dividends | Worst fall in the year | More |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 so far | +9.6% | +9.2% | +0.4 pts | −13.5% | |
| 2025 | −10.2% | −10.6% | +0.5 pts | −26.1% | |
| 2024 | +33.9% | +33.1% | +0.8 pts | −14.5% | |
| 2023 | +43.6% | +42.5% | +1.1 pts | −15.7% | |
| 2022 | −13.5% | −14.2% | +0.8 pts | −32.6% | |
| 2021 | +75.4% | +74.5% | +0.9 pts | −8.1% | |
| 2020 | +52.7% | +51.8% | +1.0 pts | −38.3% | |
| 2019 | +7.8% | +7.2% | +0.6 pts | −10.0% | |
| 2018 | −13.6% | −14.5% | +0.9 pts | −23.5% | |
| 2017 | +69.8% | +67.0% | +2.7 pts | −8.6% | |
| 2016 | −9.1% | −10.2% | +1.1 pts | −19.1% | |
| 2015 | +15.3% | +14.7% | +0.6 pts | −12.5% | |
| 2014 | +69.3% | +68.0% | +1.3 pts | −9.2% | |
| 2013 | +3.6% | +2.9% | +0.6 pts | −19.7% | |
| 2012 | +52.5% | +50.6% | +1.8 pts | −7.6% | |
| 2011 | −20.7% | −21.8% | +1.1 pts | −22.1% | |
| 2010 | +18.1% | +17.0% | +1.1 pts | −13.3% | |
| 2009 | +88.0% | +85.6% | +2.4 pts | −21.1% | |
| 2008 | −73.5% | −73.7% | +0.2 pts | −78.5% | |
| 2007 | +100.9% | +99.8% | +1.0 pts | −20.5% | |
| 2006 | +51.4% | +50.5% | +0.9 pts | −41.1% | |
| 2005 | +69.7% | +67.8% | +1.9 pts | −16.6% | |
| 2004 | +43.3% | +41.1% | +2.2 pts | −26.9% |
The falls
Every fall of 10% or more from a high, deepest first. The worst, 79%, took 14 months to reach bottom and 5.4 years more to climb back. Today it is 10.0% below its high.
Nifty Alpha 50: how far below its previous high
Weekly, the week's lowest close against the highest close before it, total return, %.
How to read it. Zero is a new high. The depth of each dip is what a holder sat through; its width is how long getting back took.
Loading chart…
Total return, closing prices. A fall ends when the index closes at or above the high it fell from. Calendar time.
| Fall | From the high of | To the low of | Falling for | Recovering for | Back at the high | High to high |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| −78.9% | 7 Jan 2008 | 9 Mar 2009 | 14 months | 5.4 years | 19 Aug 2014 | 6.6 years |
| −41.1% | 10 May 2006 | 14 Jun 2006 | 35 days | 5 months | 13 Nov 2006 | 6 months |
| −39.6% | 23 Jan 2018 | 23 Mar 2020 | 2.2 years | 4 months | 31 Jul 2020 | 2.5 years |
| −32.8% | 6 Apr 2022 | 27 Feb 2023 | 11 months | 8 months | 17 Oct 2023 | 18 months |
| −31.3% | 24 Sept 2024 | 3 Mar 2025 | 5 months | +31% off the low | not yet | 19 months since the low |
| −26.9% | 23 Apr 2004 | 24 Jun 2004 | 2 months | 3 months | 29 Sept 2004 | 5 months |
| −21.8% | 19 Aug 2015 | 26 Feb 2016 | 6 months | 8 months | 18 Oct 2016 | 14 months |
| −20.5% | 6 Feb 2007 | 7 Mar 2007 | 29 days | 2 months | 14 May 2007 | 3 months |
| −19.1% | 21 Oct 2016 | 26 Dec 2016 | 2 months | 37 days | 1 Feb 2017 | 3 months |
| −17.3% | 14 Jan 2004 | 23 Mar 2004 | 2 months | 30 days | 22 Apr 2004 | 3 months |
What holding it was like
From every day in its history, what holding Nifty Alpha 50 for a fixed span would have returned a year. Over five years the middle outcome was 19.9% a year; the worst −6.9% and the best 40.8%; 4% of five-year spans lost money.
Total return a year, %, over every span of that length starting on any session. Spans overlap, so 'separate spans' is how many non-overlapping ones the history holds: the longer the span, the fewer truly independent readings behind each figure.
| Held for | Worst | 1 in 10 worse than | Middle | 1 in 10 better than | Best | Spans that lost | Separate spans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | −75.0% | −12.7% | +18.8% | +83.4% | +156.7% | 25% | 22.8 |
| 3 years | −18.8% | −0.1% | +20.5% | +38.9% | +78.1% | 10% | 7.6 |
| 5 years | −6.9% | +4.7% | +19.9% | +29.4% | +40.8% | 4% | 4.6 |
| 7 years | +2.6% | +8.5% | +20.0% | +25.2% | +30.5% | 0% | 3.3 |
| 10 years | +7.9% | +12.4% | +19.8% | +24.8% | +28.2% | 0% | 2.3 |
Rolling returns, a year
Weekly: the return a year over the 3 and 5 years to each date, total return, %.
How to read it. Each point is what someone who bought 3 or 5 years earlier had earned a year by then. The lows mark the worst times to have bought.
Loading chart…
₹10,000 on the first session of every month into the index itself, from January of each year to 14 Oct 2026. Before any fund cost or tax; an index fund would have returned a little less. Of SIPs that ran five years or more, the weakest started in 2021 (+14.6% a year).
| Started in January | Months | Put in | Worth now | Multiple | Return a year (XIRR) | More |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 22 | ₹2,20,000 | ₹2,40,567 | 1.09× | +10.2% | |
| 2024 | 34 | ₹3,40,000 | ₹3,67,086 | 1.08× | +5.5% | |
| 2023 | 46 | ₹4,60,000 | ₹5,84,976 | 1.27× | +12.9% | |
| 2022 | 58 | ₹5,80,000 | ₹8,02,479 | 1.38× | +13.7% | |
| 2021 | 70 | ₹7,00,000 | ₹10,67,315 | 1.52× | +14.6% | |
| 2020 | 82 | ₹8,20,000 | ₹15,65,406 | 1.91× | +18.9% | |
| 2019 | 94 | ₹9,40,000 | ₹21,31,252 | 2.27× | +20.6% | |
| 2018 | 106 | ₹10,60,000 | ₹26,52,768 | 2.50× | +20.2% | |
| 2017 | 118 | ₹11,80,000 | ₹32,73,634 | 2.77× | +19.9% | |
| 2016 | 130 | ₹13,00,000 | ₹40,66,703 | 3.13× | +20.0% | |
| 2015 | 142 | ₹14,20,000 | ₹48,64,253 | 3.43× | +19.5% | |
| 2014 | 154 | ₹15,40,000 | ₹60,64,122 | 3.94× | +19.8% | |
| 2013 | 166 | ₹16,60,000 | ₹76,71,320 | 4.62× | +20.2% | |
| 2012 | 178 | ₹17,80,000 | ₹95,38,302 | 5.36× | +20.5% | |
| 2011 | 190 | ₹19,00,000 | ₹1,14,98,289 | 6.05× | +20.4% | |
| 2010 | 202 | ₹20,20,000 | ₹1,35,58,143 | 6.71× | +20.1% | |
| 2009 | 214 | ₹21,40,000 | ₹1,68,57,192 | 7.88× | +20.3% | |
| 2008 | 226 | ₹22,60,000 | ₹1,91,52,757 | 8.47× | +19.8% | |
| 2007 | 238 | ₹23,80,000 | ₹2,10,55,323 | 8.85× | +19.0% | |
| 2006 | 250 | ₹25,00,000 | ₹2,38,81,588 | 9.55× | +18.6% | |
| 2005 | 262 | ₹26,20,000 | ₹2,84,26,530 | 10.85× | +18.6% | |
| 2004 | 274 | ₹27,40,000 | ₹3,66,80,557 | 13.39× | +19.2% |
How bumpy
Volatility is how widely daily returns swing, scaled to a year. Over the past year it was 19.3%, against a usual 20.6% for this index. 66% of months ended higher, and 291 days moved 3% or more either way.
Nifty Alpha 50: volatility over the past year
Weekly: standard deviation of daily total returns over the past 252 sessions, annualised, %.
How to read it. Spikes come with sell-offs; calm stretches come with rising markets. High readings rarely last.
Loading chart…
| Worst days | Return |
|---|---|
| 21 Jan 2008 | −16.1% |
| 23 Mar 2020 | −12.8% |
| 17 May 2004 | −11.6% |
| 10 Oct 2008 | −11.1% |
| 24 Oct 2008 | −10.9% |
| Best days | Return |
|---|---|
| 18 May 2009 | +14.0% |
| 25 Mar 2008 | +9.7% |
| 23 Jan 2008 | +9.5% |
| 25 Jan 2008 | +9.2% |
| 14 Feb 2008 | +7.5% |
| Worst months | Return |
|---|---|
| Oct 2008 | −36.8% |
| Jan 2008 | −27.3% |
| Jun 2008 | −25.6% |
| Mar 2020 | −24.4% |
| Sept 2008 | −22.2% |
| Best months | Return |
|---|---|
| May 2009 | +28.6% |
| Oct 2007 | +19.3% |
| Apr 2008 | +19.0% |
| Mar 2006 | +17.5% |
| Jun 2020 | +17.3% |
Valuation
NSE's own price-to-earnings, price-to-book and dividend yield, at each month-end since Aug 2026. Today's P/E of 27.9 is near the top of its range since NSE moved to consolidated earnings in March 2021. Price to book, 5.66, is near the top of its range over the full history.
Price to earnings
Month-ends, as NSE publishes them.
How to read it. Higher is dearer. Before March 2021 NSE used standalone earnings, so readings on either side of the line are not strictly comparable.
Price to earnings. Line chart, Aug 2026 to Oct 2026. Price to earnings: latest 27.9×, range 24.1× to 27.9×.
Price to book
Month-ends, as NSE publishes them.
How to read it. Higher is dearer. Book value has no accounting break, so the whole history compares.
Price to book. Line chart, Aug 2026 to Oct 2026. Price to book: latest 5.66×, range 5.03× to 5.66×.
Today is 14 Oct 2026; the history is month-ends. A percentile is the share of month-ends at or below today's reading: 90 means dearer than nine months in ten (for dividend yield, the reverse).
| Today | Percentile, full history | Last 10 years | Since March 2021 | Median | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price to earnings | 27.93 | 100 | – | – | 27.55 | 24.05 | 27.93 |
| Price to book | 5.66 | 100 | – | – | 5.57 | 5.03 | 5.66 |
| Dividend yield, % | 0.54 | 67 | – | – | 0.54 | 0.40 | 0.55 |
What it holds
50 stocks as NSE lists them today. The ten largest make up 41.9% of the index. It is weighted by alpha based weighting and rebalanced quarterly.
Sector weights
NSE's factsheet, 30 Sept 2026. % of the index.
How to read it. Sectors as NSE classifies them. A sector index of one industry has no split to show.
Sector weights. Bar chart of 10 items. Weight, %: highest Capital Goods at 26.1%, lowest Consumer Services at 1.3%.
NSE's factsheet, 30 Sept 2026. NSE publishes the weights of the ten largest members only.
| Largest holdings | Weight | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cupid Ltd. | 7.35% |
| 2 | Sterlite Technologies Ltd. | 6.19% |
| 3 | MTAR Technologies Ltd. | 5.67% |
| 4 | HFCL Ltd. | 4.24% |
| 5 | Ather Energy Ltd. | 3.83% |
| 6 | TD Power Systems Ltd. | 3.60% |
| 7 | Welspun Corp Ltd. | 3.06% |
| 8 | Kirloskar Oil Eng Ltd. | 2.82% |
| 9 | Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. | 2.55% |
| 10 | Apar Industries Ltd. | 2.54% |
NSE's constituent list for Nifty Alpha 50, as seen on 14 Oct 2026. NSE changes members at each rebalance.
| Member | Industry | NSE symbol | More |
|---|---|---|---|
| AU Small Finance Bank Ltd. | Financial Services | AUBANK | |
| Acutaas Chemicals Ltd. | Healthcare | ACUTAAS | |
| Adani Energy Solutions Ltd. | Power | ADANIENSOL | |
| Adani Power Ltd. | Power | ADANIPOWER | |
| Aditya Birla Capital Ltd. | Financial Services | ABCAPITAL | |
| Apar Industries Ltd. | Capital Goods | APARINDS | |
| Ashok Leyland Ltd. | Capital Goods | ASHOKLEY | |
| Ather Energy Ltd. | Automobile and Auto Components | ATHERENERG | |
| BSE Ltd. | Financial Services | BSE | |
| Bank of India | Financial Services | BANKINDIA | |
| Bharat Forge Ltd. | Automobile and Auto Components | BHARATFORG | |
| Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. | Capital Goods | BHEL | |
| Canara Bank | Financial Services | CANBK | |
| Cummins India Ltd. | Capital Goods | CUMMINSIND | |
| Cupid Ltd. | Fast Moving Consumer Goods | CUPID | |
| Eicher Motors Ltd. | Automobile and Auto Components | EICHERMOT | |
| FSN E-Commerce Ventures Ltd. | Consumer Services | NYKAA | |
| Federal Bank Ltd. | Financial Services | FEDERALBNK | |
| GE Vernova T&D India Ltd. | Capital Goods | GVT&D | |
| Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. | Healthcare | GLENMARK | |
| HFCL Ltd. | Telecommunication | HFCL | |
| Hindalco Industries Ltd. | Metals & Mining | HINDALCO | |
| Hindustan Copper Ltd. | Metals & Mining | HINDCOPPER | |
| Hitachi Energy India Ltd. | Capital Goods | POWERINDIA | |
| IIFL Finance Ltd. | Financial Services | IIFL | |
| Indian Bank | Financial Services | INDIANB | |
| Karur Vysya Bank Ltd. | Financial Services | KARURVYSYA | |
| Kirloskar Oil Eng Ltd. | Capital Goods | KIRLOSENG | |
| L&T Finance Ltd. | Financial Services | LTF | |
| Laurus Labs Ltd. | Healthcare | LAURUSLABS | |
| MTAR Technologies Ltd. | Capital Goods | MTARTECH | |
| Manappuram Finance Ltd. | Financial Services | MANAPPURAM | |
| Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. | Financial Services | MCX | |
| National Aluminium Co. Ltd. | Metals & Mining | NATIONALUM | |
| Navin Fluorine International Ltd. | Chemicals | NAVINFLUOR | |
| One 97 Communications Ltd. | Financial Services | PAYTM | |
| Polycab India Ltd. | Capital Goods | POLYCAB | |
| RBL Bank Ltd. | Financial Services | RBLBANK | |
| Radico Khaitan Ltd | Fast Moving Consumer Goods | RADICO | |
| Shriram Finance Ltd. | Financial Services | SHRIRAMFIN | |
| Solar Industries India Ltd. | Chemicals | SOLARINDS | |
| State Bank of India | Financial Services | SBIN | |
| Steel Authority of India Ltd. | Metals & Mining | SAIL | |
| Sterlite Technologies Ltd. | Telecommunication | STLTECH | |
| TD Power Systems Ltd. | Capital Goods | TDPOWERSYS | |
| TVS Motor Company Ltd. | Automobile and Auto Components | TVSMOTOR | |
| Union Bank of India | Financial Services | UNIONBANK | |
| Vedanta Ltd. | Metals & Mining | VEDL | |
| Vodafone Idea Ltd. | Telecommunication | IDEA | |
| Welspun Corp Ltd. | Capital Goods | WELCORP |
Against the Nifty 500
How Nifty Alpha 50 has done against the broad market it is part of. Over 23 years it beat the Nifty 500 by 6.4 percentage points a year, and was ahead in 14 of 22 calendar years.
Relative strength
Weekly: Nifty Alpha 50's total return divided by the Nifty 500's, 100 at the start of the range shown.
How to read it. Rising: Nifty Alpha 50 is outrunning the Nifty 500. Falling: it is lagging. The level means nothing; the direction is the reading.
Loading chart…
Three-year lead or lag
Weekly: Nifty Alpha 50's return a year over the past three years minus the Nifty 500's, percentage points.
How to read it. Above zero, someone who bought three years earlier was ahead of the broad index; below, behind.
Loading chart…
Monthly total returns. Up capture: how much of the Nifty 500's gain in its rising months this index caught (100 is all of it); down capture: the same for falling months. Beta above 1 means bigger swings than the Nifty 500.
| Ahead by, a year | Up capture | Down capture | Beta | Correlation | Tracking error | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full history, from Jan 2004 | +6.4 pts | 127 | 116 | 1.16 | 0.90 | 12.6% |
| Last 5 years, from Oct 2021 | +3.0 pts | 148 | 154 | 1.36 | 0.87 | 12.5% |
Models and ETFs
No Tipsheet model uses Nifty Alpha 50. 2 ETFs track it. Its trend and momentum have a page of their own.
From the ETF desk. Tracking difference: what a holder buying and selling on the exchange got, minus the index's total return, over the past year. Tracking error: how much that gap wobbled week to week.
| ETF | NSE symbol | Expense ratio | Assets | Tracking difference, 1 year | Tracking error, 1 year | Daily traded value (median) | More |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kotak Nifty Alpha 50 ETF | ALPHA | 0.25% | ₹896 cr | −1.50 pts | 2.47% | ₹5.0 cr | |
| Motilal Oswal Nifty Alpha 50 ETF | MOALPHA50 | 0.45% | ₹5.0 cr | −1.67 pts | 4.35% | ₹0.0 cr |
Data and sources
Nifty Alpha 50 is computed and published by NSE Indices. History here starts 31 Dec 2003; NSE launched the index on 19 Nov 2012, from a base date of December 31, 2003. All returns are on NSE's total-return index unless marked as price return.
Historical index data. NSE publishes daily index values, total-return values and P/E, P/B and dividend yield for every index on niftyindices.com: historical data. Pick Nifty Alpha 50 there to download its full series.
- Nifty Alpha 50 on niftyindices.com: description and methodology
- NSE's monthly factsheet (PDF)
- Current constituents (CSV)
- The weekly series on this page (JSON): growth of 100, drawdown, volatility and rolling returns
Index values themselves are NSE's and are not republished here; the charts show growth of 100 and other figures computed from them.
The workings
The question
Data
Every chart has a table view, a CSV download and a link to its published JSON. Bundles are listed in data status.