Newcriteria may trigger Nifty churn

Bajaj Finance and UPL could replace ACC and Tata Power in the benchmark Nifty50 index following the change in guidelines for the computation of the index.

Earlier this week, India Index Services & Products (IISL) made key changes to the guidelines governing composition and maintenance of indices.

The index provider said companies with free-float market capitalisation (mcap) of 1.5 times (as against the earlier requirement of two times), the free-float mcap of the smallest constituent can be included in the respective index.

Domestic brokerage Edelweiss, in a note, said this could result in Bajaj Finance and UPL being part of the Nifty index. “We expect index changes to be announced in a week’s time. And, the same to be effective from September 29,” the note said. In another note, IDFC Securities said Bajaj Finance, UPL and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) could replace ACC, Tata Power and Bank of Baroda. The move could see passive funds chasing the new entrants.

IISL also reduced the time period required for a company to be included in the index after an initial public offering, to three months, from the earlier six months.