Stock Exchanges in India

A Stock Exchange is the place where investors go to buy/sell their shares. You know what an Equity share is. Pls refer to Equity Shares for more details.

Once a company's public offering is complete, it gets listed in a stock exchange. After listing it would be available for trading to all investors in the stock exachanges where they are listed. In India we have two major stock exchanges. They are:

1. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) &
2. The Bombay Stock Exchanges (BSE)

National Stock Exchange:

The NSE is India's largest and the worlds third largest stock exchange in terms of Transaction volumes & amounts. The NSE is based out of Bombay. The NSE has set up its trading platform as a nation-wide, fully automated screen based system. This enables anyone in any part of the country to trade on shares listed in the NSE.

The NSE is based on a demutualized model wherein the ownership, management & trading rights are managed by three different group of people. This is to ensure that there is no conflict of interest among the stake holders.

NSE was set up with the objectives of:

1. Establishing a nationwide trading facility for all types of securities
2. Ensuring equal access to all investors across the country through an appropriate telecommunication network
3. Providing fair, efficient & transparent securities market using electronic trading system
4. Enabling shorter settlement cycles and book entry settlements
5. Meeting International benchmarks and standards

NSE Index or NIFTY:

The NSE Index or the Nifty Index as it is popularly known, is the index of the performance of the 50 largest & most profitable, popular companies listed in the index. Each company that is part of the index has its own weightage in the value of the Index. The value of the Nifty Index is the weighted average of the prices of these 50 companies.

Bombay Stock Exchange:

The BSE is the oldest stock exchange in Asia. It is situated in Dalal Street in Mumbai. It is the third largest stock exchange in south Asia and the tenth largest in the world. BSE has over 5000 companies that are listed in it. The objectives of the BSE are similar to that of the NSE. BSE also uses the latest technologies in the IT field to provide a single place where traders from across the world can buy/sell shares in the Indian share market.

BSE Index or SENSEX:

The BSE Index or the Sensex as it is popularly known, is the index of the performance of the 30 largest & most profitable, popular companies listed in the index. Each company that is part of the index has its own weightage in the value of the Index. Since the number of companies is lesser, the index variations are higher when compared to the Nifty index.

Hope you got a basic idea about the two major stock exchanges in India. Happy reading...


Later we will look at portfolio management.