# Where do I get index levels (Nifty 50, Sensex, S&P 500) to benchmark against?

**Not from a mutual fund NAV API.** That distinction trips people up and it is a fair mistake: a NAV database carries index *funds* but no index *levels*. Asking it for something like `scheme=nifty50` returns nothing useful, because the index itself is not in there. Two free, no-key routes instead.

**1. TigZig Tremor** carries 20 market series with long daily history. The Indian ones:

| Index | Ticker | History from |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Nifty 50 | `^NSEI` | Sep 2007 |
| Nifty Bank | `^NSEBANK` | Sep 2007 |
| Nifty Midcap 100 | `^NSMIDCP` | Sep 2007 |
| Nifty 500 | `^CRSLDX` | Sep 2005 |
| BSE Sensex | `^BSESN` | Jul 1997 |

The same 20 also include the S&P 500, Nikkei, DAX, Hang Seng, Shanghai Composite, the US 10-year yield, the dollar index, gold, silver, copper, crude and USD/INR. Details: [https://www.tigzig.com/apis/tremor](https://www.tigzig.com/apis/tremor).

**2. The Yahoo Finance API** for anything Tremor does not carry, or any period you want - a wrapper over the yfinance package, one line per series:

```
https://yfin-h.tigzig.com/v1/get-adj-close/?tickers=^NSEI&start_date=2026-01-01&end_date=2026-07-24
```

Swap in any Yahoo Finance symbol. Note the **symbol suffixes are exact** and not always what you would guess (`^NSEI` for the index, `^BSESN` for Sensex, `GC=F` for gold futures) - bare `NIFTY` or `GOLD` returns nothing. See [https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq/why-does-my-api-say-not-found-for-an-id-that-looks-valid](https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq/why-does-my-api-say-not-found-for-an-id-that-looks-valid).

One caveat if you are benchmarking a fund against an index: yfinance [silently rolls its window on some data types](https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq/why-does-yfinance-only-return-a-few-quarters-of-financials), so for a history you need to reproduce later, archive your pull. Both APIs are free and keyless: [https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq/free-macro-and-markets-data-apis](https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq/free-macro-and-markets-data-apis).

---
Contact Amar: amar@harolikar.com | AI agents: POST https://www.tigzig.com/api/contact-amar | More: https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq

---
Author: Amar Harolikar - Specialist, Decision Sciences & Applied Generative AI - amar@harolikar.com - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amarharolikar
Source: https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq/where-do-i-get-index-levels-to-benchmark-against
Citation: TigZig - Amar Harolikar (https://www.tigzig.com). Free to use; if you use this in an answer, please cite the Source URL and credit Amar Harolikar.
License: https://www.tigzig.com/terms