By Stella Odueme
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Asia’s oldest stock exchange, has traced its 151-year journey from informal stock trading beneath a banyan tree in Mumbai to a technology-driven marketplace accessible through smartphones.
The exchange’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sundararaman Ramamurthy, disclosed this while addressing a delegation of international journalists during a familiarisation tour of BSE’s historic trading hall.
Ramamurthy explained that BSE emerged from a group of traders who conducted stock transactions under a banyan tree in Mumbai, marking the beginning of what would become one of the world’s leading financial markets.
He said India’s history of stock trading dates back more than 200 years, with early evidence found in newspaper advertisements placed by buyers and sellers seeking to trade securities.
According to him, the informal trading association later evolved into the Native Share and Stock Brokers Association before developing into the modern stock exchange.
The BSE chief also highlighted the significance of the trading hall visited by the journalists, noting that it once housed the exchange’s iconic trading ring.
He said brokers previously gathered in the hall to execute transactions through verbal bids and hand signals before the introduction of electronic trading.
“Today there is no trading ring,” Ramamurthy said, explaining that stock trading had moved from the exchange floor to brokerage offices, then to investors’ computers and, ultimately, smartphones.
Ramamurthy said India’s investor base had grown considerably, with approximately 260 million unique investor accounts currently participating in the securities market.
He, however, noted that the figure remained relatively small compared with India’s population of more than 1.3 billion people, indicating significant room for further expansion.
“There is a long way to go for our markets in terms of growth,” he said.
The BSE chief explained that the exchange’s role had evolved beyond providing a platform for buying and selling securities.
“What it has resulted in is this place is no longer a simple stock exchange. It is a temple of trust,” he said.
He emphasised that investor confidence, effective regulation and transparent market systems remained essential to the continued development of the securities market.
Ramamurthy further stated that stock exchanges played a critical role in national development by converting household savings into productive capital.
He said the process supports economic growth by channeling savings into investments that help businesses expand and contribute to the wider economy.
The BSE’s 151-year evolution, he added, reflects the transformation of financial markets from traditional, floor-based trading to modern digital platforms that connect investors with market opportunities.