Finnifty Index: Everything You Need To Know From Selection to Investment Process

Financial services in an economy are one of the most important pillars. In India, the financial service sector is rapidly growing with advancements in technology, upliftment in living standards, and most importantly, growing financial awareness. Since the sector is growing, there is high demand for the stocks of these companies and to have an overall understanding of the sector’s performance, the nifty financial services index, popularly known as Finnifty, is one of the most popular benchmarks. 

This article will revolve around the understanding of finnifty, its stock selection criteria, calculation methodology, performance, and risk factors along with investment opportunities and more. 

FINNIFTY Index – Overview & Constituents 

The Nifty Financial Services Index is built to reflect the performance and behavior of financial services across the country. It includes banks, housing financial corporations, financial institutions, insurance firms, and other financial service providers. It is constituted of 20 stocks from the financial services sector companies listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). 

The constituents of the Finnifty index are as follows – (As of 11 December 2024)

1	Axis Bank Ltd.	11	Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.
2	Bajaj Finance Ltd.	12	LIC Housing Finance Ltd.
3	Bajaj Finserv Ltd.	13	Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd.
4	Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company Ltd.	14	Muthoot Finance Ltd.
5	HDFC Asset Management Company Ltd.	15	Power Finance Corporation Ltd.
6	HDFC Bank Ltd.	16	REC Ltd.
7	HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd.	17	SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd.
8	ICICI Bank Ltd.	18	SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd.
9	ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd.	19	Shriram Finance Ltd.
10	ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd.	20	State Bank of India

The top ten stocks by weightage – 

1. HDFC Bank Ltd. 33.48%
2. ICICI Bank Ltd. 22.51%
3. Axis Bank Ltd. 7.96%
4. State Bank of India 7.93%
5. Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. 6.37%
6. Bajaj Finance Ltd. 4.52%
7. Bajaj Finserv Ltd. 2.12%
8. Shriram Finance Ltd. 2.07%
9. Power Finance Corporation Ltd. 1.77%
10. HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd. 1.72%

Selection Criteria

The stock selection criteria for the Finnifty include – 

• Constituents of Nifty 500, who are into financial services such as housing finance, banks, financial institutions, and services, are only eligible for consideration. 
• Weights of the individual subsector are calculated based on average free-float market capitalization according to the eligible universe constituents. 
• Now 20 companies are chosen in a way that their weightage nears the weightage of the subsector it belong to
• Usually, preferences are given to the stocks within a subsector that are available for trading on the stock exchange’s F&O segment. 
• Now amongst the shortlisted ones, only those 20 companies, which be, included whose average free-float market capitalization is 1.5 times the average free-float market capitalization of the index’s smallest constituent. 
• The maximum weight of any individual stock cannot go beyond 33% and for top three stocks together can have a maximum weightage of 62%.

All these selection criteria are met whenever the index is rebalanced semi-annually in January and July.  

Factors Affecting the FINNIFTY Index

The Nifty Financial Services Index is mostly affected by factors such as 

• Monetary policies: It is not just the banks but also all other financial services that are heavily dependent on monetary policies. When the RBI changes the monetary policies, it affects the share prices of the financial services stocks and that affects the Finnifty shares in turn the index. Recently, the CRR has been reduced by RBI, which means more available funds for the commercial banks, which in turn will help them disburse more loans, and generate more income. Now, not only the banks will benefit, but the financial services offering investment services will benefit as investment goes up. 
• Interest rate fluctuations:  Similar to monetary policies, interest rate fluctuation plays a pivotal role in the price movement of financial services. This again affects the finnifty index. When the repo rate increases, the banks have to lend at a higher cost, affecting their revenue, the lending companies face the same issue, insurers get affected as people are left with less earnings to invest in insurance, and similarly, other financial services are affected. 
• Global and Domestic market sentiment: Financial services are forefront of doing business and when global and domestic cues become negative, they get the blow at first. This affects the index movement too.
• Financial reports: This is a universal factor that affects all the indices and so does Finnifty. When the financial reports are announced of the constituent stocks, the index movement gets affected.  
• Ease of Doing Business in India: Another important factor, that affects the index, is the ease of doing business in the country. This is because when it is easy to do business in India, the financial institutions also get high demand for credit, which increases their revenue. Moreover, ease of business boosts real estate, which indirectly can help the housing finance segment to grow, and similarly, all other segments get benefits pushing the Finnifty higher. However, if the ease of doing business is low, then the opposite can take place. 

FINNIFTY Index Calculation Method

The finnifty index value is calculated using the Periodic Capped Free Float methodology. The weight is calculated for each of the stocks, according to the periodic capped free float weight, and the market capitalization is calculated. Then they are summed up, multiplied by the base value, and divided by base capitalization. 

Performance and Returns

Finnifty has been consistent with its performance with the financial services sector doing well for the past years. Here are the returns Finnifty generated over these periods – 

Price Returns

YTD: 11.74%

1 Year:  19.72%

5 Year: 11.06%

Since inception: 16.40%

QTD: -1.92%

Total Returns

YTD: 12.85%

1 Year:  20.92%

5 Year: 11.87%

Since inception: 17.68%

QTD: -1.88%

Enjoy investing in the top financial services stocks of the Nifty universe with the FINNIFTY index on Shoonya App!

Risk and Volatility

The risk and volatility in the financial services sector are inevitable, with the frequent changes in the interest rates, monetary policies, foreign exchange reserves, and the stock market as a whole. Here are the risk ratios of Finnifty that you need to consider – 

Standard Deviation  

1 Year – 17.33

5 Year – 24.62

Since inception – 27.54

The standard deviation is high however; it has been mellowing down over the years.  

Beta (Nifty 50)

1 Year – 1.08

5 Year – 1.19

Since inception – 1.16

This indicates that the volatility of the Finnifty is comparatively lower than that of the Nifty 50 however, the different is nominal. 

Correlation (Nifty 50)

1 Year – 0.87

5 Year – 0.92

Since inception – 0.90

Finnifty and Nifty 50 are correlated but the correlation quotient is lower making them act differently to some extent during different market conditions.

How to Invest in the FINNIFTY INDEX?

You can invest in the Finnifty index using ETFs, or index funds, or you can trade them on the trading platform. You can also trade Finnifty futures, and options in the F&O section of Shoonya’s app. To do so, you have to add the index to your watchlist following these steps – 

• Open the Shoonya app.
• Head to the “Watchlist” tab located at the bottom of your screen.
• In the search bar, type “NIFTY IN” or “SENSEX IN” and add it to the watch list, and then you will be able to see the indices.
• Once you find your desired index, click on the add option given on the right side.
• Now you can see the index on the watchlist. 

Top ETFs of Finnifty

Finnifty is used as a benchmark for multiple index funds, ETFs, and most importantly for futures and options, here are some of them – 

1. Futures and Options on NSE
2. Futures and Options on NSEIX
3. Mirae Asset Mutual Fund
4. Tata Mutual Fund

Conclusion

So, if you are looking to invest in financial services stocks, futures and options, ETFs, and index funds, then considering the Finnifty index and how it is performing can help you analyze your options. It can help you understand how the financial services are performing, their growth potential, market scenario, challenges, and other factors necessary to be evaluated before investing. 

FAQs| Finnifty Index

Source: NSEIndices

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Disclaimer: Investments in the securities market are subject to market risks; read all the related documents carefully before investing.