Nifty Media P/E at 41.4: earnings recovered, then slipped

The reading

Nifty Media closed at 1,567.70 on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, at a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.37. Its price-to-book ratio was 1.70 and its dividend yield 0.47%.

These are NSE's published end-of-day ratios, and the daily history is on the Nifty Media valuation page. For most indices we compare the reading with its median since 31 March 2021. For Media that comparison does not work, and the reasons are most of the story.

A P/E with a short record

Of the 1,363 sessions since 31 March 2021, NSE published a Media P/E on only 508:

A P/E in the hundreds or thousands means the earnings under the index were a sliver of its price. A median taken over those readings, 116.06, describes nothing useful, so this post uses a shorter window.

The June 2025 break

There is a second reason to start late. On 23 June 2025 the P/B jumped from 1.36 to 2.07 in one session, while the index rose 4.4%. Dividing the index by its P/B, the book behind each index unit fell from about 1,231 to about 845, or 31.4%, overnight.

The published numbers do not say whether that was a change in members or restated accounts. Either way, P/B readings before and after it are not on the same footing. From 23 June 2025 to 6 October 2026 there are 319 sessions, all with both ratios:

On this short record the P/E is right at its middle and the P/B in its upper quarter.

Earnings came back, then slipped

Dividing the index by its P/E gives a rough earnings figure per index unit:

From mid-2025 to its peak on 19 May 2026, the earnings figure rose about 18 times, which is what took the P/E from the hundreds to the twenties. Since that peak it has fallen 28.0%, in a series of steps between 21 May and 12 August.

The price went the other way. From the 23 March low of 1,253.35, when the P/E was 26.31, the index has risen 25.1%. Rising price and falling earnings together took the P/E back up to 41.37.

Up in a falling market

Nifty Media is up 8.5% in 2026, against a 12.8% fall for the Nifty 50. Its 2026 high was 1,621.40 on 20 August, and today's close is 3.3% below it. The longer view is less kind: the index is 57.0% below its record close of 3,642.70, set on 15 January 2018.

The yield

The 0.47% dividend yield is half what it was in late August, and not because of the price. On 31 August the yield went from 1.00% to 0.49% while the index fell 2.8%. The dividend figure behind it, worked out as yield times price, fell from about 16.0 to about 7.6 per index unit in that one session, a drop of 52.4%. That is a data step, and the published numbers do not say what caused it.

What this does not tell you

A P/E of 41 on a short record is not a long-run comparison. Sixteen months of readings, after a gap of more than two and a half years, cannot say what is normal for this index.

A narrow sector index can swing on one company. One member's results can move the earnings figure a long way, and the published ratios do not say which member did.

This is an index, not a fund. Where funds hold media companies, they sit inside broader portfolios. The guide to sectoral and thematic funds explains how those differ from an index.

Where to go from here

The guide to reading an index P/E explains why a ratio near zero earnings misbehaves. For indices with a full record since 2021, see the cheapest and dearest NSE indices on their own P/E, and for the market as a whole, the Nifty 50 P/E post for October.