BSE - Journey of an Aspiring Nation
Author: Sameer Kochhar
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Language: English
Edition: First
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The revolution in India’s capitalism began in the 19th century Bombay under a banyan tree, considered a venerable symbol of timeless wisdom, fortitude and endurance. It all started when a group of stockbrokers started trading under shades of the banyan tree. On 9 July 1875, they formed The Native Share and Stock Brokers’ Association, which evolved into the Bombay Stock Exchange or BSE, as we know it today. The exchange went through changes in myriad ways that added new chapters to its 140 years of being a beacon of India’s capital markets. The Banyan tree would, most likely, be entirely happy with today’s BSE—if, indeed, it recognised it at all.
The book is a fascinating recount of the history of Asia’s first stock exchange and the surprising number of ways in which it shaped the growth of Indian capital markets and the Maximum City of Mumbai, the kinder, gentler haven of commercial ventures and entrepreneurs, around it. The volume is replete with reminders that India’s financial past is inextricably linked to our more familiar history lessons. At times, the reader will also encounter names that are missing from most standard history books on India’s financial history.
In its brisk history telling, it portrays BSE’s journey as an institution that pursued capital raising for Indian economy from 1875 to the present in vivid detail—periods spanning triumphs and setbacks, tumults and resilience and the innovations and missed opportunities. The BSE breezed through all of them and the markets won the day.
Sameer Kochhar, Chairman of SKOCH Group, a reforms historian. is a passionate advocate of social, financial and digital inclusion, In 1997, after spending 15 years in the corporate world, he decided to follow his inner calling and become a development thinker. Ever since, he single-handedly applied himself to the rigours of self-education, academic research and fiel tours. The SKOCH Group — which has a think tank, media and consultancy arm — was established as part of this endeavor- His expert opinion is sought by the government. In Kochhar's thinking, writings, and activities, his profound admiration for India's economic reforms — and in extension, those outstanding personalities who Strive to make these reforms more meaningful and broad-based — comes out clear and unambiguous. He is the author of highly acclaimed ModiNomics: Inclusive Economics Inclusive Growth (2014) and The Untold story of Indian Reforms (2016) in addition to fourteen other volumes.
