Bombay Stock Exchange plans to set up museum

Proposed museum will house modern art sculptures, documents and paintings that would depict various phases and events of 138 years of stock market

Asia's oldest bourse, the 138-year-old BSE is planning to set up a museum at its landmark south Mumbai tower on Dalal Street that will showcase the history of the domestic capital market.

"The plan for setting up a museum is currently at preliminary stage. We are seeking suggestions from all stakeholders. We will finalise the details once all aspects are considered," a top BSE official told PTI.

The proposed museum will house modern art sculptures, documents and paintings that would depict various phases and events of 138 years of the stock market, sources said.

On August 31, 1957, the BSE became the first stock exchange to be recognised by the government under the Securities Contracts Regulation Act. In 1980, the exchange moved into the Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers on Dalal Street.

Though the entry of NSE in the early 1990s took away the dominance of the BSE in terms of trading volume, its index, the Sensex, is still the benchmark for global investors. The BSE is still the world's largest bourse in terms of the number of listed companies which is well over 5,300.

The exchange has several vacant floors, for which it has sought Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's permission to set up a museum, the official said.

The BSE had earlier started a business incubator on one of the service floors in partnership with the government of Canada.

Over the past 138 years, the BSE has facilitated the growth of the corporate sector by providing it an efficient capital-raising platform. Popularly known as BSE, the bourse was established as 'The Native Share & Stock Brokers Association' in 1875.

Today, BSE is a corporatised and demutualised entity, with a broad shareholder-base which includes two leading global exchanges, Deutsche Bourse, Fuse and Singapore Exchange as strategic partners. BSE provides an efficient and transparent market for trading in equity, debt instruments, derivatives, mutual funds.

The BSE also offers a platform for trading in equities of small-and-medium enterprises.