10,000 days of Sensex trading: Some interesting facts

Every Rs one lakh invested on April 1, 1979, would have become Rs 4.22 crore now. This translates into an annualised return of 15.02 per cent.

On June 21, 2022 benchmark equity index of one of the oldest equity exchanges in the world, the Bombay Stock Exchange completed 10,000 trading days. BSE Sensex, the base value of which is taken from April 1, 1979, as 100 and was first published on January 1, 1986, has generated a return of 42213.39 per cent since inception (April 1, 1979). This means every Rs one lakh invested on April 1, 1979, would have become Rs 4.22 crore now. This translates into an annualised return of 15.02 per cent.

In this journey of little more than 43 years, Sensex has witnessed many business cycles and has become a sort of proxy for the Indian economy and the pulse of domestic equity market.

Following graph shows the journey of Sensex since its inception. This line graph is taken on a log scale to show the movement or returns and different drawdown in the right context. So, the fall of March 2020 was less than the fall that we witnessed during 2000-01 (dotcom bust) though in points it has fallen more.

Following are some of the interesting facts about Sensex in terms of their daily, monthly and yearly returns. So, Sensex gained as much as 17.34 per cent in May 2009 after the formation of UPA II government. Similarly, the worst fall that we saw was recently during Covid-19, when Sensex fell by 13.15 per cent in a single day. 

The current fall in the Sensex and fall before it during Covid-19 crisis does not form part of the top five falls or drawdown witnessed by the Sensex. This table shows the top five drawdowns of Sensex.

Following Graph Shows The Monthly Return of Sensex

The following is a timeline on the rise of SENSEX through Indian stock market history.

BSE established in year 1875, is oldest stock exchange in Asia and has the highest number of shares listed in any exchange.