Mumbai : Economic Capital of India

Lets Consider the Reasons making Mumbai the Economic Capital of India

• Mumbai was the city with a harbor and cotton industry during British rule. As a result city started flourishing and gave rise to first stock market of country.
  
• BSE Bombay Stock Exchange is oldest and largest stock market of India.
  
• Film Industry : Bollywood. Mumbai is now India's answer for Los Angeles.
  
• Tax Payer: Mumbai is India's Largest tax paying city.
  
• Ports and Ship breaking Industry. It is a less known fact that Mumbai's Ship breaking yard is world's top Ship breaking industry. International port bring in foreign currency to Indian economy.
  

Mumbai Port

The Mumbai Port Trust (MPT) was created in 1873, a year after the Bombay Municipal Corporation was reconstituted. The MPT was responsible for reclamations and constructions in the harbour area of Mumbai.

Large tracts of land were already reclaimed in this area by the Elphinstone Land and Press Company, which went into liquidation during the depression following the end of the American Civil War, when land prices in Mumbai crashed. In 1869 the government acquired this land for 2 million pounds, and gave it for development to the MPT in June 1873.

In 1880 the Trust inaugurated the Prices' Docks along with warehouses and storage sheds; in 1888 it completed the Victoria Docks, and two years later the Merewether Dry Docks. These works, completed at a time when investments were not forthcoming, cause the MPT to run into losses.

Business picked up again towards the beginning of the 20th century, and the MPT started on an immense project of reclamations all along the harbour from Sewri to Apollo Bunder. With these works, the Trust eventually created 1880 acres of land. At present the MPT is the single largest holder of property in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

Among its present projects is the high-profile Emerald Project, aimed at environmental upgradation along the port area of Mumbai. Under this project it has recently created the Sewri Mangrove Park.

Mumbai Port in olden times

Bombay Stock Exchange

Bombay Stock Exchange is the oldest stock exchange in Asia with a rich heritage, now spanning three centuries in its 133 years of existence. What is now popularly known as BSE was established as "The Native Share & Stock Brokers' Association" in 1875.

BSE is the first stock exchange in the country which obtained permanent recognition (in 1956) from the Government of India under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act 1956. BSE's pivotal and pre-eminent role in the development of the Indian capital market is widely recognized. It migrated from the open outcry system to an online screen-based order driven trading system in 1995. Earlier an Association Of Persons (AOP), BSE is now a corporatised and demutualised entity incorporated under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956, pursuant to the BSE (Corporatisation and Demutualisation) Scheme, 2005 notified by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). With demutualisation, BSE has two of world's best exchanges, Deutsche Börse and Singapore Exchange, as its strategic partners.

Over the past 133 years, BSE has facilitated the growth of the Indian corporate sector by providing it with an efficient access to resources. There is perhaps no major corporate in India which has not sourced BSE's services in raising resources from the capital market.

Today, BSE is the world's number 1 exchange in terms of the number of listed companies and the world's 5th in transaction numbers. The market capitalization as on December 31, 2007 stood at USD 1.79 trillion . An investor can choose from more than 4,700 listed companies, which for easy reference, are classified into A, B, S, T and Z groups.

The BSE Index, SENSEX, is India's first stock market index that enjoys an iconic stature , and is tracked worldwide. It is an index of 30 stocks representing 12 major sectors. The SENSEX is constructed on a 'free-float' methodology, and is sensitive to market sentiments and market realities. Apart from the SENSEX, BSE offers 21 indices, including 12 sectoral indices. BSE has entered into an index cooperation agreement with Deutsche Börse. This agreement has made SENSEX and other BSE indices available to investors in Europe and America. Moreover, Barclays Global Investors (BGI), the global leader in ETFs through its iShares® brand, has created the 'iShares® BSE SENSEX India Tracker' which tracks the SENSEX. The ETF enables investors in Hong Kong to take an exposure to the Indian equity market.

BSE has tied up with U.S. Futures Exchange (USFE) for U.S. dollar-denominated futures trading of SENSEX in the U.S. The tie-up enables eligible U.S. investors to directly participate in India's equity markets for the first time, without requiring American Depository Receipt (ADR) authorization. The first Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) on SENSEX, called "SPIcE" is listed on BSE. It brings to the investors a trading tool that can be easily used for the purposes of investment, trading, hedging and arbitrage. SPIcE allows small investors to take a long-term view of the market.

BSE provides an efficient and transparent market for trading in equity, debt instruments and derivatives. It has a nation-wide reach with a presence in more than 450 cities and towns of India. BSE has always been at par with the international standards. The systems and processes are designed to safeguard market integrity and enhance transparency in operations. BSE is the first exchange in India and the second in the world to obtain an ISO 9001:2000 certification. It is also the first exchange in the country and second in the world to receive Information Security Management System Standard BS 7799-2-2002 certification for its BSE On-line Trading System (BOLT).

BSE continues to innovate. In recent times, it has become the first national level stock exchange to launch its website in Gujarati and Hindi to reach out to a larger number of investors. It has successfully launched a reporting platform for corporate bonds in India christened the ICDM or Indian Corporate Debt Market and a unique ticker-cum-screen aptly named 'BSE Broadcast' which enables information dissemination to the common man on the street.

In 2006, BSE launched the Directors Database and ICERS (Indian Corporate Electronic Reporting System) to facilitate information flow and increase transparency in the Indian capital market. While the Directors Database provides a single-point access to information on the boards of directors of listed companies, the ICERS facilitates the corporates in sharing with BSE their corporate announcements.

BSE also has a wide range of services to empower investors and facilitate smooth transactions:

Investor Services: The Department of Investor Services redresses grievances of investors. BSE was the first exchange in the country to provide an amount of Rs.1 million towards the investor protection fund; it is an amount higher than that of any exchange in the country. BSE launched a nationwide investor awareness programme- 'Safe Investing in the Stock Market' under which 264 programmes were held in more than 200 cities. The BSE On-line Trading (BOLT): BSE On-line Trading (BOLT) facilitates on-line screen based trading in securities. BOLT is currently operating in 25,000 Trader Workstations located across over 450 cities in India. BSEWEBX.com: In February 2001, BSE introduced the world's first centralized exchange-based Internet trading system, BSEWEBX.com. This initiative enables investors anywhere in the world to trade on the BSE platform. Surveillance: BSE's On-Line Surveillance System (BOSS) monitors on a real-time basis the price movements, volume positions and members' positions and real-time measurement of default risk, market reconstruction and generation of cross market alerts. BSE Training Institute: BTI imparts capital market training and certification, in collaboration with reputed management institutes and universities. It offers over 40 courses on various aspects of the capital market and financial sector. More than 20,000 people have attended the BTI programmes

Awards

• The World Council of Corporate Governance has awarded the Golden Peacock Global CSR Award for BSE's initiatives in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
• The Annual Reports and Accounts of BSE for the year ended March 31, 2006 and March 31 2007 have been awarded the ICAI awards for excellence in financial reporting.
• The Human Resource Management at BSE has won the Asia - Pacific HRM awards for its efforts in employer branding through talent management at work, health management at work and excellence in HR through technology

Drawing from its rich past and its equally robust performance in the recent times, BSE will continue to remain an icon in the Indian capital market.

Mumbai : Brief History

Long time before arrival of Portuguese and British, Mumbai was a collection of 7 islands.

Each island had not more than few hundred fishermen families.

After the arrival of European traders in India, Mumbai went under the control of Portuguese.

Soon when a Portuguese princess was married to a British prince, Mumbai was passed on to British as Dowry.

Every ruler who ruled India has given India immortal monuments.

Mumbai is gifted with many of such monuments.

Gateway of India for Instance.

Mumbai's most famous monument, this is the starting point for most tourists who want to explore the city. It was built as a triumphal arch to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary, complete with four turrets and intricate latticework carved into the yellow basalt stone. Ironically, when the Raj ended in 1947, this colonial symbol also became a sort of epitaph: the last of the British ships that set sail for England left from the Gateway. Today this symbol of colonialism has got Indianised, drawing droves of local tourists and citizens. Behind the arch, there are steps leading down to the water. Here, you can get onto one of the bobbing little motor launches, for a short cruise through Mumbai's splendid natural harbour.

Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus

The station was designed by Frederick William Stevens, a consulting architect in 1887-1888. He received as payment 16.14 lakh rupees. Stevens earned the commission to construct the station after a masterpiece watercolour sketch by draughtsman Axel Haig. The final design bears some resemblance to St Pancras station in London.

It took ten years to complete and was named "Victoria Terminus" in honour of the Queen and Empress Victoria; it was opened on the date of her Golden Jubilee in 1887. This famous architectural landmark in Gothic style was built as the headquarters of the great Indian Peninsular Railway. Since then the station came to be known as Bombay VT.

In 1996, in response to demands by the Shiv Sena and in keeping with the policy of renaming locations with Indian names, the station was renamed by the state government after Chatrapati Shivaji, a famed 17th century Maratha king. On 2 July 2004 the station was nominated a World Heritage Site by the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO.

Crawford Market

Crawford Market (officially Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Market) is one of South Mumbai's most famous markets. It is named after Arthur Crawford, the first Municipal Commissioner of the city. The market is situated opposite the Mumbai Police headquarters, just north of Victoria Terminus railway station and west of the J.J.flyover at a busy intersection. The market houses a wholesale fruit, vegetable and poultry market. One end of the market is a pet store. Most of the sellers inside the market nowadays sell imported items such as foods, cosmetics, household and gift items. It was the main wholesale market for fruits in Mumbai until March 1996, when the wholesale traders were relocated to Navi Mumbai (New Bombay).

The building, completed in 1869, was donated to the city by Cowasji Jehangir. After India's independence, the market was renamed after Maharashtrian social reformer, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule. In 1882, the building was the first in India to be lit up by electricity.

The edifice is a blend of Norman and Gothic architectural styles. The friezes on the outside entrance depicting Indian farmers, and the stone fountains inside, were designed by Lockwood Kipling, father of novelist Rudyard Kipling. The market covers an area of 22,471 sq m (24,000 sq ft) which 5,515 sq m (6,000 sq ft) is occupied by the building itself. The structure was built using coarse buff coloured Kurla stone, with redstone from Bassein. It has a 15 m high skylight awning designed to allow the sunlight light up the marketplace.

High Court of Mumbai

On the fringes of what was once the walled Fort of Mumbai, stands the High Court, another hauntingly beautiful (some say haunted!) structure, in brooding black stone. Opposite it lies the Oval Maidan, formerly a large Bowling Green where English memsahibs came to "take in the air." Today, it is an important lung in a congested city, where aspiring young cricketers practice their paces under the watchful eye of the High Court and the Mumbai University.

Flora Fountain

Flora Fountain is a stone fountain situated in Fort business district in the heart of South Mumbai, Mumbai, India. Flora Fountain was built in 1864. The fountain depicts the Roman goddess Flora. It is now a heritage structure. It was built at a total cost of Rs. 47,000, or 9000 pounds sterling, a princely sum in those days.