Share Market

Bombay Stock Exchange, also referred as BSE, was established in the year 1875 as ‘The Native Share & Stock Brokers’ Association.’ It was introduced by four Gujaratis and one Parsi stock broker under a tree in Mumbai’s Town Hall area.

It is the oldest stock exchange in Asia that has contributed significantly to the establishment and growth of the Indian capital market. Earlier it was known as Bombay Share Bazaar and The Stock Exchange, Bombay before taking the current name. As the name suggests, it is situated in Mumbai that is the financial hub of India.

BSE has the maximum number of listed companies in the world. As on June 2011, it has more than 5000 listed Indian companies and over 8000 scrips on its trading screens. It also ranks 5^th globally in terms of the maximum volume of transactions. It is also the first and second in the world to obtain ISO 9001:2000 certification for its quality trading operations. The BSE online- trading systems, commonly known as BOLT, ensures transparency and reliability in daily transactions. The systems also support algorithmic trading within different locations. Its stock market index, the SENSEX, is the most popular index in the country.

Despite of having almost equal market capitalization, BSE is next to NSE making it the second largest stock exchange in the country. However, both the stock exchanges share the maximum load of equity trading in India.

To widen the scope of trading, BSE introduced its websites in three languages, i.e. Gujarati, Hindi, and Marathi. It entered the Mutual Funds (MF) market in a big way by launching a trading platform that could easily be integrated within the existing infrastructure for trading in MF schemes. It also introduced AMFI Certification to equip MF advisors with the required expertise to transact in the market.

Besides attaining excellence in its operations, BSE has also taken up the function of corporate social responsibility (CSR) with utmost dedication. It has taken welfare initiatives in the area of education, health, and environment. It also got the Golden Peacock Global CSR Award, by the World Council of Corporate Governance, for its social efforts.

Like in other stock exchanges, the daily trading sessions at BSE are also five days a week. The stock exchange is closed on national holidays. Outside the BSE building, a ticker can be seen that shows the live movement in the prices of scrips during trading hours.