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Master the PE/PB heatmap — read percentiles, spot cheap and expensive zones, and time your investments
The Valuation page shows the Nifty 50's Price-to-Earnings (PE) and Price-to-Book (PB) ratios from 1999 to present — the most complete historical context available for Indian market-level valuation. A single glance tells you whether the market is cheap, expensive, or near its long-run average. No login required.
The Finmagine Market Valuation page shows the historical Nifty 50 Price-to-Earnings (PE) and Price-to-Book (PB) ratios from 1999 to the present — over 25 years of monthly data displayed in a single year-by-month heatmap.
The core question it answers: Is the Indian market cheap or expensive right now compared to its own history?
It does not tell you whether the market will go up or down tomorrow. It tells you where today's valuation sits on a 25-year spectrum — which is the most honest and useful context for long-term investment decisions. The page is free and requires no login.
Click the toggle at the top of the page to switch between the two views:
| Metric | What it measures | Best used when |
|---|---|---|
| PE Ratio | Nifty 50 price divided by trailing 12-month earnings per share. Measures how much investors pay for each rupee of current profit. | Normal market conditions when corporate earnings are stable and growing. The most widely tracked valuation metric globally. |
| Price to Book (PB) | Nifty 50 price divided by the book value (net assets) per share. Measures how much above (or below) asset value investors are paying. | When earnings are distorted — recessions, recovery phases, or when assessing capital-intensive sectors (banks, metals, real estate). Book value is more stable than earnings. |
If PE shows expensive but PB shows average, it may mean earnings are temporarily compressed (PE overstated). If both show cheap simultaneously, it is a stronger conviction signal. The two metrics act as a cross-check on each other.
At the top of the page, the snapshot panel gives you an instant summary of where today's reading stands:
Heatmap colour scale — each cell transitions continuously from green (cheapest) to red (most expensive) based on the full 25-year range.
The heatmap is the most powerful part of the page. Each row is one calendar year (1999 to present). Each column is one month (Jan through Dec). Each cell shows the Nifty 50 PE or PB for that specific month, colour-coded from green (cheap) to red (expensive).
The current month has an amber outline so you can locate today's reading instantly without scanning every cell.
Start with PE Ratio for the standard view. Then switch to Price-to-Book to cross-check. If both show the same colour, the signal is stronger.
The percentile bar immediately tells you whether today is cheap (<25th), average (25–75th), or expensive (>75th) vs history. This is the single most important number on the page.
Locate the amber-outlined cell — that is today. Look at the row above it (prior year, same month) and the row below. How does today compare to the same calendar month in prior years?
Find the last time the market was at a similar colour shade. Check what happened in the 2–3 years that followed. Not a prediction — but useful context for calibrating expectations.
Open the Market Mood Index to see if sentiment confirms the valuation signal. Cheap valuation + Extreme Fear sentiment = highest-conviction window. Expensive valuation + Extreme Greed = most cautious.
Markets can stay expensive for years in a bull run (see 2014–2018). Valuation at expensive levels means you should be more selective about new lump-sum entries — not that you should exit quality compounders that keep growing earnings.
In the March 2020 crash, PE looked expensive initially because earnings had already been cut for the quarter. PB immediately showed cheap. This is the best case for checking both metrics every time — they give complementary perspectives.
Nifty 50 PE/PB reflects the aggregate valuation of the 50 largest Indian companies. Individual stocks within the index can be cheap or expensive regardless of where the broad index sits. Always combine this macro view with stock-level analysis.
Finmagine gives you 30+ computed financial ratios, sector benchmarks, FII/DII flows, the Finmagine Score, and AI-powered analysis — all in one place.