The first stock exchange of Asia-Bombay Stock Exchange

The first stock exchange of Asia-Bombay Stock Exchange

Established in 9th July 1875, the BSE (formerly known as Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd.) is Asia’s first stock exchange.It claims to be the world’s fastest stock exchange, with a median trade speed of 6 microseconds. The BSE is the world’s 10th largest stock exchange with an overall market capitalization of more than $2.3 trillion on as of April 2018.

Bombay Stock Exchange was founded by Premchand Roychand. He was one of the most influential businessmen in 19th-century Bombay. A man who made a fortune in the stockbroking business and came to be known as the Cotton King, the Bullion King or just the Big Bull. He was also the founder of the Native Share and Stock Brokers Association, an institution that is now known as the BSE.

While BSE Ltd is now synonymous with Dalal Street, it was not always so. The first venue of the earliest stock broker meetings in the 1850s was in rather natural environs – under banyan trees – in front of the Town Hall, where Horniman Circle is now situated. A decade later, the brokers moved their venue to another set of foliage, this time under banyan trees at the junction of Meadows Street and what is now called Mahatma Gandhi Road. As the number of brokers increased, they had to shift from place to place, but they always overflowed to the streets. At last, in 1874, the brokers found a permanent place, and one that they could, quite literally, call their own. The new place was, aptly, called Dalal Street (Brokers’ Street).

The Bombay Stock Exchange is the oldest stock exchange in Asia. Its history dates back to 1855, when 22 stockbrokers would gather under banyan trees in front of Mumbai’s Town Hall. The location of these meetings changed many times to accommodate an increasing number of brokers. The group eventually moved to Dalal Street in 1874 and became an official organization known as “The Native Share & Stock Brokers Association” in 1875.

On August 31, 1957, the BSE became the first stock exchange to be recognized by the Indian Government under the Securities Contracts Regulation Act. In 1980, the exchange moved to the Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers at Dalal Street, Fort area. In 1986, it developed the S&P BSE SENSEX index, giving the BSE a means to measure the overall performance of the exchange. In 2000, the BSE used this index to open its derivatives market, trading S&P BSE SENSEX futures contracts. The development of S&P BSE SENSEX options along with equity derivatives followed in 2001 and 2002, expanding the BSE’s trading platform.