Infy, RIL, Bharti in S&P Pan-Asia Shariah Index

 Other Indian stocks included in the Index are Reliance Communications, Hindustan Lever, Satyam Computers, Wipro, ONGC and NTPC.

 S&P Shariah Indices exclude businesses that offer products and services which are considered unacceptable or non-compliant according to Shariah-law, such as advertising and media (newspapers are allowed, sub-industries are analyzed individually), alcohol, financials, gambling, pork, pornography, tobacco, and the trading of gold and silver as cash on a deferred basis.

 The launch of the new index, which comes close on the heels of S&P Global Shariah Index series, draws stocks from nine Asian markets in the S&P Citigroup Global Equity Index and will enable Islamic investors to benchmark their investment on a regional basis, a release said here. The countries eligible for inclusion are China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Australia, Japan and New Zealand are excluded.

 Alka Bannerjee, Vice President, Standard & Poor's Index services said: "We are delighted to be able to offer a fully-investable Pan-Asian Shariah compliant index. Standard & Poor's approach is to create meaningful, product-based indices that give Islamic investors exposure to the same headline markets that conventional investors have enjoyed for years."