• ISBN13: 9789357315487
• Binding: Hardcover
• Subject: Economics
• Publisher: Hachette
• Publisher Imprint: Hachette
• Publication Date: January 1, 2025
• Pages: 880
• Original Price: INR 1599.0
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 300 grams
• BISAC Subject(s): Investments & Securities / Commodities / General

From banyan trees to electronic screens – the authoritative account of India's stock market over two centuries.

For millions of people, the stock market is the canvas on which are sketched fantasies of riches, of lives transformed. Yet, the history and methods of one of modern India's most transformative forces remain underexplored till now.

Starting from the early nineteenth century, when a few banias traded shares under banyan trees, to the Cotton and Share Mania occasioned by the American Civil War, to the decades of marking time during the Nehruvian Era, to 1991's great unshackling that made the market accessible to the public, all the way to the market cycles of the new millennium, Running behind Lakshmi brings India's stock market into focus.

By combining archival sources with observations and expertise forged through immersion in the markets, Adil Rustomjee provides a wide-ranging account that is equal parts analytical history, financial practice, and market lore. Brimming with pioneers and adventurers, grand rivalries and petty jealousies, scams and scandals, this is the story of a nation and a people told through a lens that's never been used, but is more relevant than ever.

After a career in international development and markets, Adil Rustomjee discovered his life's work as a chronicler of India's stock markets.

The idea for the book came when he stumbled upon the BSE archives during the time he had an office in the exchange's building. These nuggets of history were just lying around, but a substantial account had yet to be written about an equity market that was over two centuries old.

Adil Rustomjee then made it his calling to narrate the market's past, outline its methods, and detail its participants. Born in Hyderabad, he attended the universities of Madras and Bombay, from which he graduated with degrees in commerce and management. He also holds graduate degrees in international relations from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, and in business from Yale.

Besides taking a keen interest in financial markets, he is a student of military history and strategy.