Nifty 50 P/E at 21.21: a month of rising prices

Early May, in three numbers

The Nifty 50 closed at 24,330.95 on Wednesday, 6 May 2026, at a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.21. Its price-to-book ratio was 3.33 and its dividend yield 1.28%.

The index is 7.6% below its record close of 26,328.55 from 2 January. The daily series is on our Nifty P/E ratio page.

What changed since early April

In the April post the index stood at 22,968.25 and the P/E at 20.18. Since then:

• The index rose 5.9%.
• The P/E rose 5.1%.
• Dividing one by the other, the earnings behind the index rose about 0.8%.

The rise in the ratio is a price story, just as the fall in March was. Earnings have been close to flat for four months either way.

Measured from the 30 March low of 22,331.40, the index is up 9.0% and the P/E has climbed from 19.62 to 21.21. The month of April alone took the index from that close to 23,997.55 on 30 April, a gain of 7.5%.

The largest single step came on 8 April, when the index rose 3.8%, from 23,123.65 to 23,997.35, and the P/E went from 20.32 to 21.09 in a session. Our post on the biggest one-day rise looks at that day.

The series so far

The index is now 1.8% below its 5 March close and the P/E 2.1% below, so the profits behind it are about where they were two months ago.

Where 21.21 sits

Since 31 March 2021, when NSE moved the P/E to consolidated earnings, there have been 1,256 sessions.

• P/E: 276 closed lower than 21.21, about 22%. A month ago only 6% did. The median is 22.29.
• P/B: 56 sessions closed below 3.33, under 5%. The low remains 3.05, from 30 March.
• Dividend yield: 1.28%, exactly its median for the period.

So the index has moved from the cheap edge of its five-year range back to the lower part of the middle. On book value it still sits near the bottom.

A year of slow earnings

On 6 May 2025 the index closed at 24,379.60 at a P/E of 21.95. A year later the price is 0.2% lower and the P/E 3.4% lower, which implies earnings up about 3.3%.

Compared with the January record, the index is 7.6% lower and the P/E 7.5% lower. The implied earnings are within a fraction of a percent of where they stood that day. Everything the index has lost since January has come off the multiple, not the profits.

What this does not tell you

A rising P/E is not a warning on its own. It rose because prices recovered. Whether that continues depends on the price and on the earnings figure, and neither is predictable from the ratio.

The earnings figure is trailing. It is the last twelve months of reported profit and it changes as companies report. The ratio can move sharply on a day the price barely moves.

It is the index, not your fund. A large-cap fund holds its own selection of companies, and its own valuation.

Where to go from here

For how the month went across the market, see the April 2026 market recap. The Nifty P/E ratio page has the history and a page for each NSE index.

The guide on how to read an index P/E ratio explains the arithmetic used here.