NSE's government bond indices in 2026: up 2.18%

The year so far

From 31 December 2025 to Friday 18 September 2026, NSE's Nifty Composite G-sec Index returned 2.18%. That index tracks government bonds across maturities, and its level includes the interest the bonds pay, so it works as a total return.

The route was anything but flat. The index fell 1.94% to a low on 2 April, rose 5.79% to a high on 14 August, and has since given back 1.50%.

The index figures are NSE's closing levels; 18 September is the latest close in our data. The fund figures are computed from daily NAVs dated 18 September 2026, Direct plan, Growth option, for 23 gilt funds (two duplicate option codes left out) and five 10-year constant maturity funds.

What these indices are, and aren't

NSE publishes its G-Sec indices as index levels. For equity indices we also hold the P/E, P/B and dividend yield, but for these bond indices those fields are empty: there is no yield figure in the data. So this post does not quote a bond yield.

What the data do hold is two versions of the 10-year benchmark index. The main one includes accrued interest; the clean-price one leaves it out and moves only with the bond's price. The gap between them is the interest earned.

So far this year the bond's price fell 3.44%, which is what a rise in its yield looks like, and interest of about 5.0% more than covered it. Scaled up over 365 days, that interest comes to about 7.1% a year. That is an income figure, interest relative to price; it is not the yield to maturity, which also allows for the bond's price drifting toward par.

By maturity

The pattern in most columns is duration. In the first quarter, the longer the bonds, the bigger the fall: the 15-year-plus index lost 3.76%, the 4-8 year index 0.46%. In the rally since 30 March the longest bonds gained most, though the middle buckets fell out of order, and since the 14 August high the longest bonds have again fallen most, in strict order of maturity.

For the year as a whole the 11-15 year bucket did best, at 3.26%, and the 15-year-plus index, which swung hardest both ways, ended level with the 10-year benchmark at 1.42%.

Gilt funds alongside

The median gilt fund fell almost exactly as far as the composite index in the first quarter and rose a little more since. For the year so far, and over twelve months, it is level with the index, a little ahead after its costs. 12 of the 23 funds beat the composite index over the year.

Since the 14 August high, every gilt fund has lost ground, with a median of −1.34%.

Bandhan's and UTI's were the only gilt funds that stayed positive through the first-quarter fall, and Bandhan's then had the biggest gain of any gilt fund since. Union's fund shows the opposite route: the deepest first-quarter fall in the category, a strong rally, and the smallest gain for the year.

What this does not tell you

There is no yield in this data. The 7% interest figure is income relative to price, not the yield to maturity a bond desk would quote.

Index levels have costs removed. An index pays no expense ratio; a fund tracking one will trail it slightly.

Past returns don't predict. The direction of bond prices from here depends on where yields go, which these numbers cannot say.

Tax is at your slab. Gains in a debt fund bought on or after 1 April 2023 are taxed at your income-tax slab rate.

Where to go from here

The gilt fund and 10-year constant maturity gilt pages list every scheme. The guides to the debt fund duration ladder and credit risk and YTM explain duration and yield.

Earlier this year: gilt funds in March, gilt funds in July, and dynamic bond funds in August.