The Sensex surged 31000 points in 17 months from the bottom of March 2020

MUMBAI: The BSE Sensex index has risen 31,000 points in the last 17 months to cross 57,000 today after hitting a low in March 2020 due to the corona, but the index and its constituents have not been able to keep pace with broader market returns. These stocks have seen a sharp rise in the last one and a half years as a result of strong attraction of retail investors in small cap and mid-caps.

It took 17 months for the Sensex to rise 31000 points from a low of 25639 in March 2020 and on Tuesday it crossed 57000 for the first time. It has taken 31 years since the Sensex was formed in 1986 to reach the level of 31000. The Sensex's 31000 level was first seen in May 2017.

The market cap of the Sensex has risen by 122 per cent in the last 17 months while the market cap of stocks listed on the BSE has risen by 140 per cent during the period, a market analyst said. Most of the world's equity markets have performed well in the post-Corona period, but very few indexes have performed as well as Indian equities.

The small caps performed 15 per cent better than the mid-caps and the mid-caps performed better than the large caps by the same margin, the analyst added. The rise in the index was due to an increase in retail participation in Indian stock markets. Retail investors accounted for 45 per cent of the stock's total turnover on the NSE in FY2021, according to a report.