 "The informal beginnings of what would become the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) can be traced back to the 1850s. A group of around 20-22 stockbrokers began meeting and trading under a banyan tree | Photo: BSE")
In some ways, the history of the BSE can be traced back to the speculative mania that gripped Mumbai (then Bombay) more than a decade before the exchange’s founding. Among the key figures of that great bubble was Premchand Roychand, described as a “devout Jain, of fair complexion, lithe of limb and sweet of temper, of engaging manners and free from the pride of riches — who had seen no more than thirty-four summers but who carried a most clever financial head on his shoulders.”
Roychand was involved with financial institutions like the Bank of Bombay and the Asiatic Bank.
