By Faith Anisiobi, The Sight News
A delegation of international journalists has been given the opportunity to ring the market-closing bell at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), concluding a familiarization visit to Asia’s oldest stock exchange in Mumbai.
The symbolic ceremony was led by BSE Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sundararaman Ramamurthy, who hosted the journalists at the exchange’s historic headquarters.
The bell-ringing followed a briefing by Ramamurthy on the evolution of the 151-year-old institution, from its early beginnings under a banyan tree to its emergence as a major global exchange.
During the visit, the journalists toured the historic trading hall, where brokers once executed transactions through open outcry, using hand signals and shouted bids before the transition to electronic trading.
Ramamurthy said India’s capital markets had undergone significant transformation, with trading now conducted electronically and increasingly through smartphones, enabling investors to access markets from virtually anywhere.
He also highlighted the expansion of investor participation, modern settlement systems and the growing use of technology to promote transparency and investor protection.
The journalists were further 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 closing-bell ceremony provided the visiting media representatives with firsthand experience of a longstanding stock-market tradition and marked the conclusion of their engagement with the exchange.
The visit was part of efforts to familiarize international journalists with India’s financial markets and the evolution of one of the country’s key economic institutions.
