India joins the ranks of stock market superpowers

The National Stock Exchange of India, which is larger than the BSE by transaction value, has now taken Hong Kong’s place as the seventh-largest bourse.

Fund manager Abhay Agarwal was surprised by the number of calls he took this month from international investors showing more than a passing curiosity about India. “These are from family offices in Europe or some large investors in US who have …never bothered about investing in India,” said Agarwal, founder of Mumbai-based Piper Serica Advisors. “For the first time, I find them to be very serious and they’re calling and asking questions such as, ‘Look, will my money be safe? And is there a rule of law here?’” he added The interest comes at a time when the country’s stock market is hitting record highs — the market value of companies listed on India’s exchanges crossed $4 trillion in late November, according to Refinitiv. India has two major exchanges: the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and the BSE, Asia’s oldest bourse formerly known as the Bombay Stock Exchange. The sizzling rally means that the NSE, which is larger than the BSE by daily transaction value, has now taken Hong Kong’s place as the seventh-largest bourse, data from the World Federation of Exchanges showed.