Who owns Sensex? A journo or BSE?

Olga Tellis

One could never have imagined that there would be a tussle over who owns the Sensex, one of the sexiest stock market indices in the world.

Journalist Deepak Mohoni claims that the Sensex is his property and the BSE wants to register the Sensex as its trademark. Old timers in the stock market agree that the word Sensex was not invented by the Bombay Stock Exchange and that it started using the word Sensex only after it gained currency through Mohoni, the media and brokers.

But what cannot be disputed is that the BSE used to refer to the index as the BSE Sensitive Index. Mohoni abbreviated this to Sensex and the issue is whether he becomes the owner of the BSE Sensitive Index.

Those in the know feel he could be fighting a very tough battle if not a losing one. In fact the BSE advertises the Sensex as the index that the world tacks!

Earlier RBI index

According to old timers, the BSE invented the BSE Sensitive Index in 1986 and for the first time there was a reliable index for the stock market. It was virtually online, through the PTI stock scan.

It was published daily and used to get updated every two minutes. Till then there was an RBI index which was used since 1929 and was based on 20 stocks. But according to these sources, it was for the RBI's internal consumption and not for the public.

The index used to come after two or three weeks with the statistical bulletin. The market would be judged on the basis of the performance of leaders. There were market leaders such as Tata Steel, Standard Mills, Century, Bombay Dyeing and of they fared well, the market was said to have fared well.

Attracting retail investors

Everyone is keeping their fingers crossed so that the 25 per cent allotment for the public becomes mandatory. This is one of the ways by which retail participation can be assured. Sebi is said to be very concerned like several others, about the volatility in the market. It is sending investors into a tailspin. They buy shares thinking it is a good price and then suddenly it does down one day and up another and they are flummoxed. India is supposed to be the most volatile of the Bric markets after Brazil, and even among the emerging markets. Brazil is volatile because of its fluctuating currency.

Indian investors end up the losers as they are not Warren Buffets. The ministry of finance is concerned and sent one of its officials to participate in a debate on the issue on April 29 in Mumbai. This was the second debate on the issue, the first being on March 29. The government is expected to take a decision on this in three to four months and after this the Securities Regulation rules will be amended to facilitate the introduction of this 25 per cent allotment.

Landowners booking profits

The realty market is in trouble, if not deep trouble. A number of deals have dried up in recent days because people have stopped buying houses. It is said to be down by 70 per cent. According to some brokers enquiries have dwindled from ten a day to just two to three. If they did 10 deals a month they now do just two or three. In North India there is an over supply of houses and what is even more interesting is that some big players have started selling their lands and booking profits.

A big property consultant is said to have remarked that there was tremendous uncertainty in April among people as to whether they should buy or sell.