Among the scrips that were dropped from the Sensex after November 1998, the price of the Arvind Mills scrip has appreciated by 340.34 per cent, that of G E Shipping by 214.61 per cent, of IDBI by 53.98 per cent, Sail 79.9 per cent and Tata Power 98.48 per cent.
Between April 25, 2003, and July 11, the Sensex gained 25.72 per cent. But this is on the basis of the revamped Sensex series. Had these stocks remained on the Sensex, the index would now be at 4,004, registering smarter gains of 35 per cent.
With the benefit of hindsight, it can now be seen that replacing these old-economy stocks with in-season information, communication and entertainment (ICE) stocks wasn't a good idea. Nine scrips were dropped from the Sensex in four tranches between November 15, 1998, and January 7, 2002.
Retaining the Sensex basket prior to the first change on November 16, 1998, would have led to a figure of 4,004.32 in the index on July 11, 2003. This is 328.06 points higher than the Sensex close of 3,676.26 on that day.
This compilation was made by adjusting the weight of the base year to account for the changes in the equity capital of Sensex stocks on account of mergers, and rights and bonus issues by constituent companies.
The stocks that came into the Sensex in the pre-ICE euphoria have shown a mixed-price performance. While Infosys Technologies, which entered the Sensex on November 16, 1998 -- before the ICE boom
