About Stock Exchange
“Stock Exchange is an institution evolved in industrially developed capitalist economics with free market mechanism”. In typical free market, the individual investor would ideally choose to make money available to those new or existing enterprises which offer the best prospect of immediate and continuing profit. And since he is entitled to withdraw money from a less profitable enterprise by selling his shares, as long as he can find a buyer and to reinvest it, he will be continually looking for new and more profitable outlets for his money. Therefore, in theory, stock exchange was termed as institution allocator of resources par excellence.
The stock exchange an institution broadly fulfilling the following objectives:
- Making funds available to entrepreneurs for business activity;
- Ensuring maximum return on the investment made by the investors;
- Providing platform for saving, investment and reinvestment activity.
In India, however, the institution of stock exchange evolved and developed as an organization offering place for speculative activity, which had little to do with industrial financing and investment activity. After 1865, a number of financial failures and problems in speculative activity led brokers to form an association in 1875. “It was only the disaster that followed the boom, which brought the brokers together in July, 1875 to form an association that is today called the Stock Exchange, Bombay.
Stock exchange remain absolutely on the borders of industrial financing and investment activity in pre-independence economy, the primary reason being the general distrust by the public of private business. With the absence of any meaningful role in industrial financing and investment activity, the functioning, organization and management of the institution of stock exchange tended to develop as that of an organization primarily concerned with speculative activity. The organization and management of major stock exchanges formed during this period did not prove to be positive to the developments and desirable changes later, more particularly during the period of 1980’s.
The recent reforms in stock markets were triggered by issues of surveillance and any developments that will have a bearing on the quality and effectiveness of the surveillance and implications on the quality of growth. This is an important aspect that should be seriously addressed to the stock markets and the regulators. While government and regulatory authorities will have a greater role to play in promoting competition, the stock exchanges at their individual level have to take keen interest and initiate measures that would promote greater inter-exchange cooperation helping each other on overcoming shortfalls and setbacks. A fair degree of cooperation is required within the stock exchanges in the country to avoid imprudent practices and inducements that will be harmful to the health of the markets.