Last Diwali for Calcutta Stock Exchange

FADING INTO DISTANT MEMORY

- BISHASWAR MALAKAR

IT ONCE RIVALLED the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in trading volumes and stood as a symbol of Kolkata’s financial heritage.

But the bustle that once filled the imposing Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE) building on Lyons Range is now just a distant memory, with the 117-year-old institution celebrating its last Diwali on Monday.

The process of voluntary exit as a bourse is nearing completion after a decade-long legal battle.

Trading at CSE was suspended by the regulator in April 2013 following regulatory noncompliance. After years of efforts to revive operations and contest the directives in courts, the exchange has now decided to back out of the business and seek a voluntary exit from its stock exchange licence.