Nifty 50 P/E at 20.20; its P/B of 2.89 is a six-year low

Friday's close

The Nifty 50 closed at 23,897.70 on Friday, 4 September 2026, at a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.20. Its price-to-book ratio was 2.89 and its dividend yield 1.19%.

The index is 9.2% below its record close of 26,328.55 from 2 January. The daily series is on our Nifty P/E ratio page.

Since early August

In the August post the index stood at 24,624.65 and the P/E at 20.91. Since then:

• The index fell 3.0%.
• The P/E fell 3.4%.
• Dividing one by the other, the earnings behind the index rose about 0.5%.

August itself took the index down 1.2%, from 24,383.60 to 24,080.40, and the slide continued into September. The P/E closed at 20.18 on 3 September, its lowest since 11 June.

The P/B goes lower again

Last month's post found the P/B at 2.95, its lowest since June 2020. It has gone further. On 2, 3 and 4 September it closed at 2.89, the lowest since 18 June 2020.

As before, the reason is that book value keeps growing while the price does not. Over the month from 5 August, the book value behind the index rose about 1.4% while the index fell 3.0%. Over a year, from 4 September 2025, book value is up about 10.3% and earnings about 3.9%, with the index 3.4% lower.

Six months of readings

This series began in early March. Here is every reading so far.

Across the six months:

• The index fell 3.5%.
• The P/E fell 6.8%.
• The implied earnings rose about 3.5%, and the implied book value about 12.5%.

The P/E has moved inside a narrow band, between about 20 and 21.7 at each reading. It went under 20 on seven closes this year, five of them between 23 March and 2 April and two in June. The P/B, by contrast, has worked its way down, from 3.37 to 2.89, setting a new low in July and another in September.

Where 20.20 sits

Since 31 March 2021, when NSE moved the P/E to consolidated earnings, there have been 1,341 sessions. The first post in this series explains why the comparison starts there.

• P/E: 84 sessions closed lower than 20.20, about 6%. The median is 22.19 and the low 18.92, on 17 June 2022.
• P/B: no session since 2021 closed lower than 2.89.
• Dividend yield: 1.19%, under its 1.28% median; 1,045 sessions offered more.

The P/E is in the cheapest 7% of its five-year range and the P/B at the bottom of a record that reaches back to mid-2020. The yield is the measure that does not agree. Multiplying the index by its yield, the dividends behind it are about 9% lower than in early March.

What this does not tell you

Cheap on two measures is still not a signal. In mid-2022 the P/E went lower than the current reading. The ratio does not say whether it goes there again.

The P/B reflects growing book, not shrinking value. A low ratio says prices have lagged accumulated net worth. It does not say the net worth will earn more.

The "E" is trailing. It updates as companies report, and a step in it can move the ratio on a quiet day.

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

Where to go from here

For last month across the market, see the August 2026 market recap. For how the wider market compares, see the Nifty 500 P/E against the Nifty 50.

The guide on how to read an index P/E ratio explains the arithmetic behind every reading in this series.