An Introduction

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) is the leading stock exchange in India and the fourth largest in the world by equity trading volume in 2015, according to World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).It began operations in 1994 and is ranked as the largest stock exchange in India in terms of total and average daily turnover for equity shares every year since 1995, based on annual reports of SEBI. National Stock Exchange was the first exchange in India to provide modern, fully automated electronic trading. It was set up by a group of Indian financial institutions with the goal of bringing greater transparency to the Indian capital market.

NSE has a fully-integrated business model comprising our exchange listings, tradingservices, clearing and settlement services, indices, market data feeds, technology solutions and financial education offerings. NSE also oversees compliance by trading and clearing members and listed companies with the rules and regulations of the exchange.

NSE is a pioneer in technology and ensures the reliability and performance of its systems through a culture of innovation and investment in technology. NSE believes that the scale and breadth of its products and services, sustained leadership positions across multiple asset classes in India and globally enable it to be highly reactive to market demands and changes and deliver innovation in both trading and non-trading businesses to provide high-quality data and services to market participants and clients.
Mr. Ashok Chawla is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of NSE and Mr. Vikram Limaye is the Managing Director and CEO of NSE.

History

NSE was mainly set up in the early 1990s to bring in transparency in the markets. Instead of trading membership being confined to a group of brokers, NSE ensured that anyone who was qualified, experienced and met minimum financial requirements was allowed to trade. In this context, NSE was ahead of its times when it separated ownership and management in the exchange under SEBI’s supervision. The price information which could earlier be accessed only by a handful of people could now be seen by a client in a remote location with the same ease. The paper-based settlement was replaced by electronic depository-based accounts and settlement of trades was always done on time. One of the most critical changes was that a robust risk management system was set in place, so that settlement guarantees could protect investors against broker defaults.

NSE was set up by a group of leading Indian financial institutions at the behest of the government of India to bring transparency to the Indian capital market. Based on the recommendations laid out by the Pherwani committee, NSE has been established with a diversified shareholding comprising domestic and global investors.

NSE was also instrumental in creating the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) which allows investors to securely hold and transfer their shares and bonds electronically. It also allows investors to hold and trade in as few as one share or bond. This not only made holding financial instruments convenient but more importantly, eliminated the need for paper certificates and greatly reduced the incidents of forged or fake certificates and fraudulent transactions that had plagued the Indian stock market.

Market Capitalization

National Stock Exchange has a total market capitalization of more than US $2.27 trillion, making it the world’s 11th-largest stock exchange as of April 2018. NSE’s flagship index, the NIFTY 50, the 50 stock index is used extensively by investors in India and around the world as a barometer of the Indian capital markets. Nifty 50 index was launched in 1996 by the NSE. However, Vaidyanathan (2016) estimates that only about 4% of the Indian economy / GDP is actually derived from the stock exchanges in India.

Unlike countries like the United States where nearly 70% of the GDP is derived from larger companies and the corporate sector, the corporate sector in India accounts for only 12-14% of the national GDP (as of October 2016). Of these only 7,800 companies are listed of which only 4000 trade on the stock exchanges at BSE and NSE. Hence the stocks trading at the BSE and NSE account for only around 4% of the Indian economy, which derives most of its income related activity from the so-called unorganized sector and households.

Objectives

The main objective behind NSE is to establish trading facility nationwide for all types of securities. It also ensures equal access to all investors in the country through the process of an appropriate telecommunication network. NSE was able to achieve its objectives within a very short span of time. NSE has national reach to major market segments like equity or capital markets, futures and options or derivatives market, wholesale debt market, mutual funds, initial public offerings and so on. There is also a concept of day trading which suits well for short term investments. But there are investors who think that this type of trading is quite risky.

Products

Equity & Equity Linked Products

• Cash Market (Equities)
• Indices
• Mutual Funds

Exchange Traded Funds

• Initial Public Offerings
• Offer for Sale
• Institutional Placement Program
• Security Lending and Borrowing Scheme
• Sovereign Gold Bonds Scheme

Derivatives

• Equity Derivatives
• Currency Derivatives
• NSE Bond Futures

Debt

• Debt Market
• Corporate Bonds
• Electronic Debt Bidding Platform (NSE-EBP)

Awards & Recognition

• 2016 : CII- Exim Bank Prize for Business Excellence
• 2016 : Global Architecture Excellence Awards
• 2016 : New Service Offering Initiative
• 2015 : Golden Peacock Innovative Product / Service Award
• 2015 : The Asian Banker Achievement Awards
• 2015 : Stock Exchange of the Year
• 2015 : FOW Awards for Asia – Best New Technology Product – Market Surveillance
• 2014 : Futures and Options World Award for Indian Exchange of the Year
• 2014 : Global Finance – Best Derivatives Providers Award 2014 for exchange performance
• 2014 : CII-Exim Bank Prize for Business Excellence
• 2013 : Capital Finance International – Best Stock Exchange Award, India
• 2010 : The Asian Banker Achievement Awards for Markets and Exchanges
  Financial Derivative Exchange of the Year Award.

Listed Companies on NSE

Here are the List of Top 100 Companies listed on NSE on the basis of Market Capitalization –