Ethical Investing Gets Real: NSE and BSE Launch Saatvik and Ahimsa Indices

Can you grow your money while also sticking true to your ahimsa values? Until recently, that might have sounded utopian. But India’s top stock exchanges have now made it a real possibility.  

In June 2026, BSE launched India’s first ethical index – the BSE Saatvik 100 Index, built not around growth or momentum, but around ethics. Within weeks, NSE followed the suit and launched Nifty500 Ahimsa Index in July, expanding its thematic and ESG-linked offerings and giving investors an option to align their portfolios with their ethical filters.  

Until now, you may have followed ahimsa in every part of your lifestyle, but the moment you invested in an index fund or mutual fund scheme, you automatically ended up owning companies that didn't match your beliefs. As a vegan and Jain, myself, creating a truly cruelty-free portfolio has been challenging.  

The launch of these new indices marks a real shift: values-based investing in India now has actual benchmarks, not just an aspiration.

Let's unpack both, how they compare, and whether they're worth watching. 

Launched on June 19, 2026, the BSE Saatvik 100 is India's first index built around "Saatvik" principles - a philosophy rooted in purity, ethics, and non-violence, more commonly associated with food. BSE has extended that idea into equity investing, using it as a screening layer on top of the usual market-cap and liquidity criteria.

So, the obvious question is, what kind of companies does the BSE Saatvik 100 Index have? The Saatvik index follows an exclusionary screening method. It starts with BSE 500 universe and eliminates companies involved in  

• Animal cruelty like leather, meat, poultry and pesticides
• Products that are toxic or addictive like alcohol, tobacco and narcotics  
• Gambling or explicit entertainment  

regardless of how well they perform. Interestingly, unlike Shariah-compliant investing, financial services aren't excluded here; in fact, they're the single largest sector in the index.

In case you’re wondering, if the BSE Saatvik 100 Index vegan – the answer is no. While the index excludes companies involved in animal-cruelty like leather, meat and poultry, it does not include companies involved in dairy business. For example, Varun Beverages is part of the Saatvik 100 Index, even though the company is involved in dairy products. 

HDFC Bank (9.7%), ICICI Bank (7.7%), and Reliance Industries (7.6%), followed by Bharti Airtel, L&T, Infosys, SBI, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Mahindra & Mahindra. Financial services make up nearly 37% of the index, with consumer discretionary and energy next in line.

The index rebalances every June and December. Also, as of now, there's no ETF or mutual fund tracking it directly. It currently exists purely as a benchmark that asset managers can eventually build products around. 

Although the index launched only in June 2026, its base date goes back to June 20, 2005, which means BSE has calculated how it would have performed over the past two decades.

Here’s a look at the back-tested numbers (as of late May 2026):  

• 13.70% annualized returns over ten years,  
• 11.11% over five years,  
• 12.22% over three years, and  
• a small dip of 0.61%.in the last year

While the numbers look encouraging, back-tested data applies today's rules to yesterday's markets, so treat it as informative, not predictive. 

NSE wasted little time and launched its own version of Saatvik Index on July 11, 2026 – the Nifty500 Ahimsa Index. This index is also built around the principle of Ahimsa, or non-violence with a specific focus on companies that don't harm animals.

Unlike BSE's straightforward exclusion list, NSE built this one in collaboration with the Ahimsagain Foundation, using its Ahimsa Investment Movement (AIM) framework. Instead of a simple in-or-out screen, AIM classifies every company into a Green, Orange, or Red band based on how closely its products, services, and practices align with non-violence toward animals. Only Green-band companies make the cut; Orange and Red are excluded entirely.

Drawing from the broader Nifty 500 universe, the index currently comprises 326 companies, with constituents weighted by free-float market capitalization — the standard approach used across most Nifty indices. Its base date is April 1, 2016, with a base value of 1,000, and like the Saatvik 100, it rebalances twice a year. 

The top holdings of the NSE500 Ahimsa Index include Bharti Airtel (6.01%), Infosys (3.74%), Mahindra (2.92%), TCS (2.21%), and Maruti Suzuki (1.96%). Among the top sectors are automobile (13.5%), capital goods (12.2%), IT (11.8%), financial services (10.35%), metals and mining (8.29%), and telecommunications (7.7%). You can find full details of the index on NSE’s website here.

NSE has positioned the index the same way BSE has positioned Saatvik: as a benchmark first, with the expectation that ETFs, index funds, and other structured products will follow as demand builds.

Both indices chase the same broad goal — giving values-driven investors a measurable, rules-based way to align money with ethics — but they get there differently.

• Scope: Saatvik 100 pulls from the BSE 500 and settles on exactly 100 stocks. The Ahimsa Index draws from the larger Nifty 500 and currently holds 326 - a much wider net.

   

• Screening approach: Saatvik uses a binary exclusion list across several categories (alcohol, tobacco, gambling, meat, leather, and more). Ahimsa uses a graded, single-dimension framework (Green/Orange/Red) focused specifically on animal welfare, built with an external foundation's methodology.

   

• History: Saatvik back-tests to 2005; Ahimsa's base date is 2016, a shorter but still meaningful stretch.

   

• Products available: Neither index has a live ETF or fund tracking it yet. Both are, for now, benchmarks waiting for asset managers to build on top of them. 

Sustainable investing has gained a lot of momentum in the last decade, particularly ESG investing. ESG uses broad, multi-factor scoring across environmental, social, and governance metrics. In fact, India also has a lot of ESG funds for conscious investors.

However, ESG and ethical investing are not the same things. While a company can get a good score on ESG scale, it might still be excluded by the BSE Saatvik 100 or Nifty 500 Ahimsa Index because of its direct or indirect engagement in animal cruelty. Or a company that’s part of these indices can rank poorly on ESG parameters and may not be picked by an ESG fund.

Both Saatvik and Ahimsa skip the scoring nuance in favor of clearer, values-based lines: a company either aligns with the principle, or it doesn't. There is no grading.

Launching two ethics-first indices within weeks of each other isn't a coincidence. It reflects that values-based investing is no longer a niche idea waiting for validation; it now has official benchmarks from the country's two largest exchanges. And for conscious investors, that changes something fundamental: you no longer have to choose between your principles and broad market exposure.

Having actual, rules-based benchmarks will give you something concrete to build your ethical portfolio, rather than leaving it to vague claims.

For now, both remain benchmarks rather than investable products. However, both these ethical indices will pave the way for future passive investment products, including ETFs and index funds built around the index. This will help vegan, vegetarian, Jain and other ethical investors alsign their investment with their cruelty-free principles.  

If your investment philosophy leans toward purity, non-violence, or ethical screening, these are two names worth keeping on your radar.  

That said, ethical positioning isn't the same as lower risk. Both are still market-cap-weighted equity indices exposed to normal market swings, and Saatvik in particular leans heavily on financial services.  Also, make sure to evaluate every company the same way you'd weigh any other addition to your portfolio: is this fundamentally strong? Is this company aligned with your investment goals, your risk appetite, and if it fits in the bigger picture.