TLDR:
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When Sundararaman Ramamurthy joined as CEO, BSE was struggling. A lot of money was being spent every year on schemes that were not creating real trading or volumes. Around 100 crore per year was cut from these costs.
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The internal structure was weak. Many senior roles were empty or ineffective, and employees did not see clear career growth. Once leadership gaps were fixed and career paths were made clearer, execution improved.
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Technology was another issue. Core systems existed, but overall capacity and supporting infrastructure were outdated. Upgrading infra was necessary before BSE could scale.
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Governance earlier was more on paper. The focus shifted to making governance visible at the board level, which helped in faster and better decisions.
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Growth did not come from one single business. BSE started growing across multiple areas like mainboard listings, SME listings, mutual funds, index business, and derivatives, where BSE earlier had almost no presence.
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NSE is not seen as someone to fight with every day. Entry barriers should never be taken for granted and competition can always come up. The focus is on complementing the ecosystem, improving on past performance, and building products by filling gaps rather than chasing market share.
SME side
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SME listings are important because banks can’t keep funding small companies beyond a point. They need risk capital, and equity markets fill that gap.
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Entry barriers are kept high on purpose so random retail participation stays limited.
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Not every company is allowed in just because markets are hot. Checks have become stricter over time.
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Around 25% of SME applications are filtered out early itself.
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BSE now looks closely at promoter background, track record, auditor changes, how funds will be used etc.
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Merchant bankers are treated as the first line of responsibility. If bad companies come through, their credibility is also at stake.
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BSE also uses AI-based tools to scan draft documents, flag compliance gaps, unusual patterns, promoter or auditor red flags, and even match things with public-domain data.
F&O side
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Retail participation in F&O looks big in headlines, but compared to equity investors, it’s actually small.
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Data shows a large chunk of retail traders are not heavy or regular traders; many are just testing or experimenting.
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BSE’s approach is not to ban or kill derivatives, but to focus more on education.
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For most retail investors, F&O is not suitable long term.
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That’s why the push is towards mutual funds and index products, especially broad-based ones.
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Logic is simple. If someone wants equity exposure, mutual funds make more sense than jumping into derivatives without understanding risk.
Full interview here:
