BSE Limited, also known as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is an Indian stock exchange which is located on Dalal Street. Established with the efforts of cotton merchant Premchand Roychand in 1875, it is the oldest stock exchange in Asia, and also the tenth oldest in the world. The BSE is the world's 6th largest stock exchange with a market capitalization exceeding US$5 trillion on May 21, 2024.

History

Bombay Stock Exchange was founded by Premchand Roychand in 1875. While BSE Limited is now synonymous with Dalal Street, it was not always so. In the 1850s, four Gujarati and one Parsi stockbroker gathered together under a Banyan tree in front of Bombay (now Mumbai) Town Hall, where Horniman Circle is now situated. A decade later, the brokers moved their location to under the banyan trees at the junction of Meadows Street and what was then called Esplanade Road, now Mahatma Gandhi Road. With a rapid increase in the number of brokers, they had to shift places repeatedly. At last, in 1874, the brokers found a permanent location, the one that they could call their own. The brokers group became an official organization known as "The Native Share & Stock Brokers Association" in 1875. On 12 March 1993, a car bomb exploded in the basement of the building during the 1993 Bombay bombings. The BSE is also a Partner Exchange of the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchange initiative, joining in September 2012. BSE established India INX on 30 December 2016. India INX is the first international exchange of India. BSE became the first stock exchange in the country to launch commodity derivatives contract in gold and silver in October 2018. BSE was demutualized and corporatized on 19 May 2007, pursuant to the BSE (Corporatization and Demutualization) Scheme, 2005 notified by SEBI. It was listed on NSE on 3 February 2017.

Market statistics

Criticism and controversies

The Indian stock exchanges BSE and NSE have witnessed several high-profile corruption scandals. At times, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has barred several individuals and entities from trading on the exchanges for insider trading, stock manipulation, especially in illiquid mid-caps, small-caps and penny stocks.

Citations