By Gloria Ikibah
A delegation of international journalists has been given the rare honour of ringing the market-closing bell at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), bringing to a close a familiarisation visit to Asia’s oldest stock exchange.
The symbolic ceremony was led by BSE Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sundararaman Ramamurthy, who hosted the visiting media representatives at the exchange’s historic headquarters in Mumbai. 
The bell-ringing followed a briefing during which Ramamurthy traced the 151-year-old institution’s remarkable journey from its beginnings under a banyan tree to its emergence as one of the world’s leading stock exchanges.
The journalists were also taken through the historic trading hall where brokers once conducted transactions through open outcry, relying on hand signals and shouted bids before the introduction of electronic trading.
Ramamurthy told the delegation that India’s capital markets had undergone a dramatic transformation, with trading now carried out electronically and increasingly through smartphones, enabling investors to access the market from virtually anywhere.
He also highlighted the growth in investor participation in India, the development of modern settlement systems and the expanding role of technology in promoting transparency and protecting investors.
The visiting journalists were briefed on the BSE’s contribution to capital formation and economic development, as well as India’s growing role in global derivatives and options trading.
The ceremonial closing bell provided the international media representatives with a firsthand experience of one of the longstanding traditions associated with stock exchanges around the world.
The visit was part of efforts to familiarise international journalists with India’s financial markets and the evolution of one of the country’s most important economic institutions.
