Over the past few days Metroblogging cities have been posting about unique gifts that their city has given to the world. This is in the spirit of the holiday season and gift-giving which ensues in most parts of the world. In the same vein, we start our series. The countdown will go in reverse till we reach Gift #1. Note that they are not in any priority of importance, rather just gifts that India’s greatest city has to offer. Earlier posts are here

Haven’t u heard the phrase “Money Makes the World Go Around”.

Well this couldn’t be truer than it is in India just now. The economy is exploding and a burgeoning middle class in India is thriving and lapping up all the goodies that it can buy.

Bombay has always been the Financial and Commercial Capital of India. Delhi may be the political one, and Bangalore can be the Silicon Alley of India, but the real money power lies in Bombay.

And that’s because of our Stock Exchange. Like the NYSE, which so defines NYC to be what it is, so does BSE.

It all started in the 1850’s when

An informal group of 22 stockbrokers began trading under a banyan tree opposite the Town Hall of Bombay from the mid-1850s, each investing a (then) princely amount of Rupee 1. This banyan tree still stands in the Horniman Circle Park, Mumbai. The informal group of stockbrokers organized themselves as the The Native Share and Stockbrokers Association which, in 1875, was formally organized as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). [link]

Image Link: Wikipedia

The BSE was for the first 100 years a loose conglomerate of family run brokers. However

In 1956 Government of India recognized the Bombay Stock Exchange as the first stock exchange in the country under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act.

The BSE moved into its current premises - the Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers - in 1980. The Bombay Stock Exchange followed the familiar outcry system for stock trading up until 1995, when it was replaced by an electronic (eTrading) system named BOLT, or the BSE OnLine Trading system. In 2005, the status of the exchange changed from an Association of Persons (AoP) to a full fledged corporation under the BSE (Corporatization and Demutualization) Scheme, 2005 (and its name was changed to The Bombay Stock Exchange Limited).

The Sensex is the official de facto temperature thermometer of India. Its ups and downs shows the real happenings in India, be it politics, trade, commerce or entertainment.

The Bombay Stock Exchange has had its share of pitfalls. It took Harshad Mehta and his devious ways to usher in a new era of transparency and upgradation of services to make it a world class trading exchange.

The BSE has also spawned the NSE, the National Stock Exchange, which like the NASDAQ is predominantly technology-heavy.

So tomorrow if you see India Shining, or better experience India Shining, you know where the epicenter of all that lies. Its at the Bombay Stock Exchange

Related posts:

1. Gift # 7: Indian Railways
2. Stock Market Fuels the Jokes Market
3. Gift # 4: Cricket
4. Gift # 3: Bollywood: The Indian Film Industry
5. Turn It On.