The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) is a stock exchange located on Dalal Street, Mumbai.
It is the oldest stock exchange in Asia.
The BSE has the largest number of listed companies in the world.
It has also been cited as one of the world's best performing stock market.
The BSE SENSEX (SENSitive indEX), also called the "BSE 30", is a widely used market index in India and Asia.
Though many other exchanges exist, BSE and the National Stock Exchange of India account for the majority of the equity trading in India.
BSE's normal trading sessions are on all days of the week except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays declared by the Exchange in advance.
The Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers house the Bombay Stock Exchange since 1980.
It traces its history to the 1850s, when 4 Gujarati and 1 Parsi stockbroker would gather under banyan trees in front of Mumbai's Town Hall.
The location of these meetings changed many times, as the number of brokers constantly increased.
The group eventually moved to Dalal Street in 1874 and in 1875 became an official organization known as 'The Native Share & Stock Brokers Association'.
In 1956, the BSE became the first stock exchange to be recognized by the Indian Government under the Securities Contracts Regulation Act.
The Bombay Stock Exchange developed the BSE Sensex in 1986, giving the BSE a means to measure overall performance of the exchange.
The development of Sensex options along with equity derivatives followed in 2001 and 2002, expanding the BSE's trading platform.
The Bombay Stock Exchange switched to an electronic trading system in 1995.
It took the exchange only fifty days to make this transition.
The BSE has also introduced the world's first centralized exchange-based internet trading system, BSEWEBx.co.in to enable investors anywhere in the world to trade on the BSE platform.
