Bombay Stock Exchange

Origins and informal trading (1850s–1874)

In the 1850s, stock trading in Bombay was conducted informally by a small group of five brokers—four Gujarati and one Parsi—who gathered under a banyan tree in front of the Bombay Town Hall. As the number of brokers increased over the following decade, the group frequently relocated to accommodate their growing size, eventually settling under the banyan trees at the junction of Meadows Street and Esplanade Road (now Mahatma Gandhi Road).

Formalization and Dalal Street (1875–1900s)

By 1874, the rapidly expanding broker network required a permanent headquarters and a standardized regulatory structure. In 1875, the prominent Śvetāmbara Jain financier and businessman Premchand Roychand organized the brokers into an official institution. Roychand, who had amassed a vast fortune as the "Cotton King" and "Bullion King" of Bombay, provided the structural leadership to establish "The Native Share & Stock Brokers Association." His intervention effectively transitioned the decentralized street traders into Asia's first official stock exchange. With his backing, the association acquired a permanent location in 1899, which subsequently became known globally as Dalal Street.

Government recognition and modernization (1957–1990s)

Following Indian independence, the institution's regulatory framework was formally integrated into the national economy. In 1957, the BSE became the first stock exchange to be officially recognized by the Government of India under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956.