Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider and Dharma Investments have joined hands to launch the Dow Jones Dharma Indexes.

Dharma Investments is a leading private firm pioneering the development of faith-based investment. The new indexes measure the performance of companies selected according to the value systems and principles of Dharmic religions, especially Hinduism and Buddhism.

The Dow Jones Dharma Index series includes the Dow Jones Dharma Global Index, as well as four country indexes for the US, the UK, Japan and India.

The indexes are designed to underlie financial products such as exchange-traded funds and other investable products that enable investors to participate in the performance of companies which are compliant with Dharmic religious traditions.

“The Dow Jones Dharma Indexes are the first faith-based indexes created to measure Dharma compliant equities. As faith-based and socially responsible investing continues to grow worldwide, our goal is to provide the investment community with the most comprehensive benchmarks that comply with these principles,” said Michael A. Petronella, president of Dow Jones Indexes.

“The launch of the new Dow Jones Dharma Indexes marks a major step in our effort to further expand our range of faith-based indexes. Dow Jones Indexes pioneered this space by launching the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes in 1999 – today the leading Islamic market indexes worldwide.”

'We are honored to be serving a demand for faith based investing' said Nitesh Gor, CEO of Dharma Investments. 'India and Asia have made remarkable advances economically over the last few years and in parallel we believe that bringing our religious values onto the global stage offers sustainable solutions to the problems facing the world today. “

“The principle of Dharma contains precepts relevant to good conduct, but also the implicit requirement of mindfulness about the sources of wealth - and therefore responsible investing,” he added.

He said the Dow Jones Dharma Index brings together a combination of environmental, social, governance and traditional sin sector filters. As such, the Index is unique and will not just have appeal to the religious, but to a far broader audience as well.–TradeArabia News Service