So what if trading’s gone paperless? Dalal Street is humming again

The internet, online trading and ‘‘paperless’’ shares may have swallowed the visual and aural buzz. But Dalal Street, th...

The internet, online trading and ‘‘paperless’’ shares may have swallowed the visual and aural buzz. But Dalal Street, the literal one, still remains a trustworthy barometer of the Indian stock market’s many moods.

Two days before the biggest ever equity issue of the state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) opens, this 10-feet wide, congested street is humming.

Bespectacled and stocky Nandkishore Pednekar (41), who sells new issue application forms bang opposite the imposing, curved building of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), says: ‘‘The last time I had this kind of business was probably in

the early ’90s. I’m getting people who don’t even know what to do with the forms.’’

Story continues below this ad

According to brokers who still stay put at this historic make-money zone, the spate of recent public offers from Indian Petrochemicals Company Ltd to software firm CMC Ltd, while not generating serious retail investor participation, has once again got the country’s financial capital enthused about investing in stocks.

‘‘Not too many people can afford an ONGC, but the IPO blitz will certainly have a spillover effect on other relatively low profile issues. So you have first-time investors, and the ones that got disillusioned coming back,’’ says Vaibhav Varde, director of the nearly 100-year-old RR Nabar & Co Share Brokers. Varde is sitting in his tiny office, about 10 paces from the exchange, helping out a grey-haired, saree-clad, very un-investor-like lady fill up application forms.

One among the people who’re back is N. Singh, a field engineer with Reliance. ‘‘The last time I got involved was in 1992. Things seem much better this time,’’ he says glancing at the application forms hawked along the street.

Meanwhile, not too far from the now heavily-fortified exchange, is yet another trade that sees optimism on the horizon. Money Times on Goa Street, one among the very few surviving market-related publications (there were over 32 in the early ’90s), is on a roll, with circulation tripling in the past one year.

Story continues below this ad

‘‘Our current figure stands at around 42,000, and the rise began in the middle of last year. Right now, the good thing is it has stabilised,’’ says R.N. Gupta, editor and publisher, and this, he says, is inspite of various other avenues of obtaining information on the bourses.

‘‘The heightened interest at the retail level,’’ says Gupta, ‘‘is not just because of the first-timers, it’s also a sign that the serious investors are getting back into action’’.

Also in the same boat is Bhavin S. Modi, editor, Bhav Copy, which, he claims, has experienced a 60 per cent jump in circulation compared to the same period last year.

‘‘The retail investors are getting in—look at the volume in the B1/B2 segments—and we expect to see a lot more participation from them after the elections. This upswing will more or less be sustained,’’ forecasts Modi. Back there on Ground Zero, a lot of lives will be hoping he’s right.