Odimmegwa Johnpeter/Abuja
A delegation of international journalists was given the honour of ringing the market-closing bell at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), capping a familiarisation visit to Asia’s oldest stock exchange.
The symbolic ceremony was led by BSE Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Sundararaman Ramamurthy, who hosted the visiting media representatives at the exchange’s historic headquarters in Mumbai.
The bell-ringing followed a briefing in which Ramamurthy traced the evolution of the 151-year-old institution from its beginnings under a banyan tree to its current status as one of the world’s leading exchanges.
During the visit, the journalists were taken through the historic trading hall where brokers once conducted transactions through open outcry, using hand signals and shouted bids before the advent of electronic trading systems.
Ramamurthy told the delegation that India’s capital markets had undergone a dramatic transformation, with trading now conducted electronically and increasingly through smartphones, giving investors access to markets from virtually anywhere.
He also highlighted the growth of investor participation in India, the development of modern settlement systems and the increasing role of technology in ensuring transparency and investor protection.
The visiting journalists were briefed on BSE’s contribution to capital formation and economic development, as well as India’s growing prominence in global derivatives and options trading.
The ceremonial ringing of the closing bell served as a symbolic conclusion to the exchange’s trading day and offered the international media representatives a firsthand experience of a longstanding tradition associated with stock markets around the world.
The visit formed part of efforts to familiarise international journalists with India’s financial markets and the evolution of one of the country’s most significant economic institutions.
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