All about SENSEX

Bombay Stock Exchange Limited is the oldest stock exchange in Asia with a rich heritage. Popularly known as "BSE", it was established as "The Native Share & Stock Brokers Association" in 1875. It is the first stock exchange in the country to obtain permanent recognition in 1956 from the Government of India under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956.The Exchange's pivotal and pre-eminent role in the development of the Indian capital market is widely recognized and its index, SENSEX, is tracked worldwide. Earlier an Association of Persons (AOP), the Exchange is now a demutualised and corporatised entity incorporated under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956, pursuant to the BSE(Corporatisation and Demutualisation) Scheme, 2005 notified by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
The BSE Sensex or Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index is a value-weighted index composed of over 4000 stocks with the base April 1979 = 100. It consists of the 30 largest and most actively traded stocks, representative of various sectors, on the Bombay Stock Exchange. These companies account for around one-fifth of the market capitalization of the BSE.
The base value of the Sensex is 100 on April 1, 1979 and the base year of BSE-SENSEX is 1978-79.
At irregular intervals, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) authorities review and modify its composition to make sure it reflects current market conditions.
The abbreviated form "Sensex" was coined by Deepak Mohoni around 1990 while writing market analysis columns for some of the business newspapers and magazines. It gained popularity over the next year or two.
The stock market has grown by over ten times from June 1990 to today. Using information from April 1979 onwards, the long-run rate of return on the BSE Sensex can be estimated to be 0.52% per week (continuously compounded) with a standard deviation of 3.67%. This translates to 27% per annum, which translates to roughly 18% per annum after compensating for inflation.

Housing related
1. Associated Cement Companies Ltd
2. Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd
Transport Equipments
3. Bajaj Auto Ltd
4. Hero Honda Motors Ltd
5. Maruti Udyog Ltd
6. Tata Motors Ltd.
Capital Goods

7. Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd
8. Larsen & Toubro Limited
Telecom
9. Bharti Airtel Ltd
10. Reliance Communications Limited
Healthcare
11. Cipla Ltd
12. Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd
13. Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd
Diversified

14. Grasim Industries Ltd
Finance
15. HDFC
16. HDFC Bank Ltd
17. ICICI Bank Ltd
18. State Bank of India
Metal, Metal Products & Mining

19. Hindalco Industries Ltd
20. Tata Steel Ltd
FMCG

21. Hindustan Lever Ltd
22. ITC Ltd
Information Technology

23. Infosys Technologies Ltd
24. Satyam Computer Services Ltd
25. Tata Consultancy Services Limited
26. Wipro Ltd
Power

27. NTPC Ltd
28. Reliance Energy Ltd
Oil & Gas
29. ONGC Ltd
30. Reliance Industries Ltd