Sensex Makes History At 60,000 - Charting the Record-Breaking Journey

The Sensex scaled the 60,000 milestone in early trading on Friday amid a continuing decline in covid cases, rising vaccination and improvement in the economic environment. After going live way back on January 2, 1986 at a base of 100, the Sensex's journey to 60,000 has been a stupendous feat.

The Sensex hit the 1,000 mark on July 25,1990. The movement from 1,000 to 30,000 spanned nearly 25 years as the Sensex hit the 30,000 mark much later on March 4, 2015. The index took more than nine years, from 1990-1999, to move from 1,000 to 5,000 and an additional seven years hit 10,000.

The first 30,000 points movement seems protracted in hindsight, as the next 30,000 points move took place within 6 years, from 30,000 on March 4, 2015 to 60,000 on September 24, 2021. All in all, it took the Sensex just about 31 years to traverse the distance from 1,000 to 60,000, amounting to a rise of nearly 50 times over the period.

The BSE benchmark took a mere eight months from 50k to 60k, after it surpassed 50,000 for the first time in January. It took just six trading sessions to add the last 1,000 points, to 60,000.

The last 10,000-points rally in the markets has been propelled by a myriad of factors such as diminishing fears of a third Covid-19 wave in wake of a vigorous vaccination campaign, pick-up in economic activity, abating fears surrounding China's Evergrande debt crisis and greater clarity by the US Fed on its bond-buying programme. The entry of first-time investors into equity investing, amid the covid pandemic and the 'new normal' work-from-home culture further bolstered the markets.

From the covid low of 25,638 on March 24, 2020, the BSE Sensex has surged around 125 per cent within a span of 18 months. The fact that Sensex crossed the last two milestones, viz. 50,000 and 60,000 amid the ravages wrought by the pandemic is a testimony to the resilence of the domestic markets and the hopes surrounding the Indian growth story.

From the peak of Dr Manmohan Singh's 'Epochal Budget' in July 1991, which heralded the era of economic liberalization, to the Harshad Mehta scam in April 1992, the global financial crisis in 2008 and the ongoing Covid crisis, the BSE has seen it all on its journey to Mount 60k.