Markets
Nifty India Defence
Nifty India Defence is an NSE theme index of 22 stocks. Since 2018 it has compounded 31.4% a year with dividends reinvested; over the past year it rose 17.1%. Its deepest fall was 54%, from Apr 2018 to Mar 2020, and it took 2.9 years from that high to a new one.
Written for anyone who holds, tracks or is thinking of buying Nifty India Defence. Data to 14 Oct 2026.
- Trend
- Uptrend since Apr 2026
- Momentum
- 22nd of 133 markets, by rank
- Below its high
- 7.0% total return
- P/E
- 57.9 67th percentile
- 1 year
- +17.1% total return
- 5 years
- 48.4% a year
- 10 years
- – a year
- Since 2018
- 31.4% a year
- Volatility
- 24.3% past year; usual 25%
NSE launched Nifty India Defence in Jan 2022. 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 2018, dividends added about 1.6 percentage points a year. Returns over more than a year are a year, compounded.
Nifty India Defence: growth of 100
Weekly, from Apr 2018, 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.
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To 14 Oct 2026. Before any fund cost or tax.
| Period | Total return | Price return | Dividends added | More |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 month | −4.4% | −4.4% | 0.0 pts | |
| 3 months | −0.2% | −0.3% | +0.1 pts | |
| 6 months | +11.7% | +11.5% | +0.2 pts | |
| This year | +20.6% | +20.0% | +0.6 pts | |
| 1 year | +17.1% | +16.5% | +0.6 pts | |
| 3 years, a year | +41.8% | +41.0% | +0.8 pts | |
| 5 years, a year | +48.4% | +47.0% | +1.4 pts | |
| Since Apr 2018, a year | +31.4% | +29.9% | +1.6 pts |
Year by year
7 of the 7 full calendar years since 2019 ended higher. 7 of them had a fall of 10% or more from a peak somewhere inside the year, so even good years are rarely smooth.
Nifty India Defence: 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 | +20.6% | +20.0% | +0.6 pts | −15.4% | |
| 2025 | +20.0% | +19.3% | +0.7 pts | −21.9% | |
| 2024 | +56.5% | +55.5% | +1.0 pts | −27.9% | |
| 2023 | +91.1% | +89.2% | +1.9 pts | −10.2% | |
| 2022 | +66.8% | +64.1% | +2.7 pts | −14.9% | |
| 2021 | +60.9% | +58.2% | +2.8 pts | −14.0% | |
| 2020 | +11.5% | +10.0% | +1.5 pts | −44.1% | |
| 2019 | +2.3% | +0.5% | +1.8 pts | −15.8% |
The falls
Every fall of 10% or more from a high, deepest first. The worst, 54%, took 24 months to reach bottom and 11 months more to climb back. Today it is 7.0% below its high.
Nifty India Defence: 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.
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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| −54.1% | 9 Apr 2018 | 24 Mar 2020 | 24 months | 11 months | 2 Mar 2021 | 2.9 years |
| −37.9% | 11 Jul 2024 | 18 Feb 2025 | 7 months | 3 months | 16 May 2025 | 10 months |
| −20.1% | 23 Jun 2025 | 30 Mar 2026 | 9 months | 36 days | 5 May 2026 | 10 months |
| −15.4% | 3 Jun 2024 | 5 Jun 2024 | 2 days | 9 days | 14 Jun 2024 | 11 days |
| −14.9% | 18 Apr 2022 | 12 May 2022 | 24 days | 3 months | 2 Aug 2022 | 3 months |
| −14.6% | 7 Dec 2021 | 24 Feb 2022 | 3 months | 35 days | 31 Mar 2022 | 4 months |
| −14.0% | 8 Mar 2021 | 23 Apr 2021 | 46 days | 42 days | 4 Jun 2021 | 3 months |
| −13.5% | 5 Dec 2022 | 28 Mar 2023 | 4 months | 35 days | 2 May 2023 | 5 months |
| −10.4% | 8 Sept 2026 | 8 Oct 2026 | 30 days | +4% off the low | not yet | 6 days since the low |
| −10.2% | 7 Mar 2024 | 13 Mar 2024 | 6 days | 19 days | 1 Apr 2024 | 25 days |
What holding it was like
From every day in its history, what holding Nifty India Defence for a fixed span would have returned a year. Over five years the middle outcome was 55.0% a year; the worst 17.6% and the best 76.2%; no five-year span 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 | −37.4% | −8.3% | +42.6% | +99.9% | +208.4% | 13% | 8.5 |
| 3 years | −2.8% | +22.5% | +56.4% | +79.0% | +99.1% | 2% | 2.8 |
| 5 years | +17.6% | +29.9% | +55.0% | +64.2% | +76.2% | 0% | 1.7 |
| 7 years | +30.2% | +37.4% | +42.4% | +45.9% | +48.1% | 0% | 1.2 |
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.
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₹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 2019 (+47.2% a year).
| Started in January | Months | Put in | Worth now | Multiple | Return a year (XIRR) | More |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 22 | ₹2,20,000 | ₹2,64,219 | 1.20× | +21.6% | |
| 2024 | 34 | ₹3,40,000 | ₹4,61,854 | 1.36× | +23.0% | |
| 2023 | 46 | ₹4,60,000 | ₹8,99,286 | 1.95× | +37.6% | |
| 2022 | 58 | ₹5,80,000 | ₹16,03,816 | 2.77× | +44.6% | |
| 2021 | 70 | ₹7,00,000 | ₹27,25,012 | 3.89× | +48.4% | |
| 2020 | 82 | ₹8,20,000 | ₹44,73,054 | 5.45× | +50.4% | |
| 2019 | 94 | ₹9,40,000 | ₹60,87,559 | 6.48× | +47.2% |
How bumpy
Volatility is how widely daily returns swing, scaled to a year. Over the past year it was 24.3%, against a usual 25.2% for this index. 61% of months ended higher, and 153 days moved 3% or more either way.
Nifty India Defence: 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.
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| Worst days | Return |
|---|---|
| 4 Jun 2024 | −14.9% |
| 23 Mar 2020 | −12.5% |
| 12 Mar 2020 | −11.4% |
| 13 Mar 2024 | −7.0% |
| 12 Sept 2023 | −6.4% |
| Best days | Return |
|---|---|
| 28 Jan 2026 | +7.0% |
| 13 Aug 2020 | +6.7% |
| 6 Jun 2024 | +5.9% |
| 27 Mar 2020 | +5.7% |
| 14 Mar 2024 | +5.6% |
| Worst months | Return |
|---|---|
| Mar 2020 | −26.4% |
| Feb 2025 | −19.6% |
| Sept 2018 | −17.4% |
| Feb 2020 | −14.0% |
| Jul 2025 | −12.3% |
| Best months | Return |
|---|---|
| Jun 2020 | +30.4% |
| Mar 2025 | +24.8% |
| Apr 2026 | +24.4% |
| May 2024 | +23.0% |
| May 2025 | +21.9% |
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 57.9 is in the middle of its range since NSE moved to consolidated earnings in March 2021. Price to book, 10.90, is in the middle 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 57.9×, range 57.8× to 58.7×.
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 10.90×, range 10.90× to 11.55×.
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 | 57.90 | 67 | – | – | 57.90 | 57.79 | 58.65 |
| Price to book | 10.90 | 33 | – | – | 10.98 | 10.90 | 11.55 |
| Dividend yield, % | 0.50 | 100 | – | – | 0.50 | 0.49 | 0.50 |
What it holds
22 stocks as NSE lists them today. The ten largest make up 85.3% of the index. It is weighted by periodic capped free float and rebalanced twice a year.
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 3 items. Weight, %: highest Capital Goods at 74.8%, lowest Chemicals at 11.9%.
NSE's factsheet, 30 Sept 2026. NSE publishes the weights of the ten largest members only.
| Largest holdings | Weight | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bharat Electronics Ltd. | 19.95% |
| 2 | Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. | 19.67% |
| 3 | Bharat Forge Ltd. | 13.27% |
| 4 | Solar Industries India Ltd. | 11.90% |
| 5 | MTAR Technologies Ltd. | 4.21% |
| 6 | Mazagoan Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. | 3.98% |
| 7 | Astra Microwave Products Ltd. | 3.43% |
| 8 | Data Patterns (India) Ltd. | 3.23% |
| 9 | Cochin Shipyard Ltd. | 3.15% |
| 10 | Bharat Dynamics Ltd. | 2.54% |
NSE's constituent list for Nifty India Defence, as seen on 14 Oct 2026. NSE changes members at each rebalance.
| Member | Industry | NSE symbol | More |
|---|---|---|---|
| AXISCADES Technologies Ltd. | Capital Goods | AXISCADES | |
| Aequs Ltd. | Capital Goods | AEQUS | |
| Apollo Micro Systems Ltd. | Capital Goods | APOLLO | |
| Astra Microwave Products Ltd. | Capital Goods | ASTRAMICRO | |
| BEML Ltd. | Capital Goods | BEML | |
| Bharat Dynamics Ltd. | Capital Goods | BDL | |
| Bharat Electronics Ltd. | Capital Goods | BEL | |
| Bharat Forge Ltd. | Automobile and Auto Components | BHARATFORG | |
| Centum Electronics Ltd. | Capital Goods | CENTUM | |
| Cochin Shipyard Ltd. | Capital Goods | COCHINSHIP | |
| Data Patterns (India) Ltd. | Capital Goods | DATAPATTNS | |
| Dynamatic Technologies Ltd. | Capital Goods | DYNAMATECH | |
| Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd. | Capital Goods | GRSE | |
| Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. | Capital Goods | HAL | |
| MTAR Technologies Ltd. | Capital Goods | MTARTECH | |
| Mazagoan Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. | Capital Goods | MAZDOCK | |
| Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd. | Capital Goods | MIDHANI | |
| Paras Defence and Space Technologies Ltd. | Capital Goods | PARAS | |
| SIGMA ADVANCED SYSTEMS LTD. | Capital Goods | SIGMAADV | |
| Solar Industries India Ltd. | Chemicals | SOLARINDS | |
| Unimech Aerospace and Manufacturing Ltd. | Capital Goods | UNIMECH | |
| Zen Technologies Ltd. | Capital Goods | ZENTEC |
Against the Nifty 500
How Nifty India Defence has done against the broad market it is part of. Over 8 years it beat the Nifty 500 by 20.1 percentage points a year, and was ahead in 5 of 7 calendar years.
Relative strength
Weekly: Nifty India Defence's total return divided by the Nifty 500's, 100 at the start of the range shown.
How to read it. Rising: Nifty India Defence is outrunning the Nifty 500. Falling: it is lagging. The level means nothing; the direction is the reading.
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Three-year lead or lag
Weekly: Nifty India Defence'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.
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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 May 2018 | +20.1 pts | 166 | 110 | 1.34 | 0.75 | 22.2% |
| Last 5 years, from Oct 2021 | +42.0 pts | 214 | 66 | 1.53 | 0.73 | 22.4% |
Models and ETFs
No Tipsheet model uses Nifty India Defence. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motilal Oswal Nifty India Defence ETF | MODEFENCE | 0.35% | ₹1,337 cr | −0.97 pts | 3.14% | ₹11.8 cr | |
| Groww Nifty India Defence ETF | GROWWDEFNC | 0.50% | ₹357 cr | −1.11 pts | 2.83% | ₹2.0 cr |
Data and sources
Nifty India Defence is computed and published by NSE Indices. History here starts 2 Apr 2018; NSE launched the index on 19 Jan 2022, from a base date of April 02, 2018. 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 India Defence there to download its full series.
- Nifty India Defence 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.