NSE 3rd fastest growing bourse in the world

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has emerged the world's third fastest-growing exchange in terms of increase in listed companies - outpacing global names such as NYSE, Nasdaq and London Stock Exchange.

While the NSE recorded a 15% jump in the number of listed firms to 1,244 during the one-year period ended April 2007, Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has consolidated its position as home to the maximum number of listed companies in the world.

NSE's 15% growth is next only to 23.3% growth at Poland's Warsaw Stock Exchange and 15.4% for Malta Stock Exchange, according to data compiled by the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) show.

Mumbai-based NSE has added 160 companies to its listed universe from a total of 1,082 at the end of April 2006. Of these more than 60 companies have joined the bourse this year itself.

The exchange has seen a whopping ten-fold surge in number of listed companies in nearly 13 years from about 100 firms in 1994-95, after it was recognized as a stock exchange under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act in April 1993.

While Warsaw and Malta Stock Exchanges have clocked higher gains than India's NSE, their 23.3% and 15.4% growth rates were primarily due to a lower base.

In terms of number of companies, Warsaw and Malta bourses added just 56 and two firms respectively, the WFE data show.

Leading global bourses like New York Stock Exchange in the US, UK-based London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Boerse in Europe all recorded lower growth rates.