The Bombay Stock Exchange today launched the BSE-TECk Index, the country's first free-float adjusted equity index, aimed at tracking the performance of the IT, media and telecom sectors.
A free-float index takes into consideration only the non-promoter holding for calculating the index. All other existing equity indices in the country currently consider the entire market capitalisation.
Dr Manoj Vaish, deputy executive director of the exchange, said: "The index assumes importance due to its construction methodology that incorporates the global best practices."
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"The index would be of great use to the mutual fund industry to benchmark their tech funds," he said.
However, players in the industry feel the launch of the index is probably too late when most of the technology stocks are at the rock bottom and new technology funds are not expected to be launched in the immediate future.
The BSE Teck Index has 21 constituents covering around 90 per cent of the ICE (information communication and entertainment) sector. The index is being positioned as a TMT benchmark.
The base value for the new index has been set at 1000 points as on the base date of April 2. The index dipped and closed at 856.88 points on Tuesday. It was at its peak at 4788.78 on March 7.