The changing script of India’s most honest storyteller

When the Sensex was first published in 1986, India was still a closed, slow-moving economy trying to find its footing.

- RADHIKA GUPTA.

(RADHIKA GUPTA)

The index began with a base value of 100 (set in 1978-79), and on its first recorded close in April 1986, it hovered around 550. Forty years later, the Sensex isn’t just a market barometer: It is a time capsule of India’s transformation. If you want a shorthand for India’s transformation, you can trace it on the Sensex chart.

In its early years, the index reflected an economy built on industrial conglomerates, consumer staples, and manufacturing giants. Capital markets were shallow, retail participation was limited and growth prospects were constrained by policy and structure.

Liberalisation in 1991 changed all of that. As India opened its doors, foreign capital arrived, domestic competition intensified and Indian entrepreneurs gained the confidence to dream globally. Markets responded. Valuations re-rated, liquidity deepened and new sectors emerged. The compounding has been extraordinary. One lakh rupees invested since inception is worth nearly ₹8 crore as of November 30, 2025, about 15 per cent compound annual growth rate for over four decades. The more interesting story is how the drivers of that compounding evolved. India is no longer being priced on its licences and quotas, it is being priced on its possibilities.