India's IT revolution started with NSE's success: Ashish Kumar Chauhan

C.P. Radhakrishnan (L), Governor of Maharashtra inaugurating the statue of the NSE Bull with NSE's MD and CEO Ashish Kumar Chauhan (Image - NSE)

The Information Technology revolution in India started with the success of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), said Ashish Kumar Chauhan, MD and CEO of NSE.

“From trading under a banyan tree, to trading under a click of the button, to trading on a smartphone, Indian markets have come a long way, he said. Chauhan was speaking at the inauguration of the NSE Bull statue in Mumbai on September 6.

The NSE Bull shows a relationship of “bazaar” and “samaj”, where the bull is the symbol of capital markets and the people around it showcases the samaj (society), said Chauhan.

Thirty years ago, stock markets were not accessible to the ‘Samaj’, and with the automated screen-based trading, markets reached all the corners of the country, he said.

Throwing some light on the statistics, Chauhan said that NSE has 10 crore unique investors registered with the exchange, with 19 crore trading accounts covering 99.84 percent pincodes in the country. He added that today, only 30 pincodes in India do not have registered investors.

Since 1994, the market capitalisation of NSE-listed companies has increased 121 times to $5.5 trillion. He also added that NSE is the largest exchange today in terms of number of orders and number of trades.

“Despite a few hiccups, NSE has more than fulfilled its vision of creating a vibrant and growth oriented stock market ecosystem, channelizing savings of Indian households in the most cost-effective way, transparent, and fair way,” said Chauhan.