By Sourav Shekhar
New Delhi, Jan 1 (UNI) Adil Rustomjee’s “Running Behind Lakshmi” is a sweeping narrative of how India’s stock market slowly learned to modernize itself.
Rather than presenting market evolution as a neat sequence of reforms, the book portrays advancement as a messy, uneven process shaped by global shocks, political hesitation, technological leaps and repeated crises.
The result is a richly textured account of how an informal trading culture gradually transformed into a structured, technology-driven financial system.
Rustomjee begins with the earliest phase of Indian stock trading, when markets operated more on personal relationships than formal rules. Transactions under banyan trees in Bombay reflected a system built on trust, reputation and proximity.
This stage, the author suggests, was crucial—it created a risk-taking culture but lacked the institutional strength needed for scale.
As global forces like the American Civil War triggered cotton booms and speculative frenzies, the limitations of these informal markets became clear, pushing traders toward more organized exchanges. The book then shows how advancement stalled after Independence.
The Nehruvian economic model, suspicious of private capital, restricted the role of markets. Rustomjee describes this period as one where the stock market survived but did not thrive. Regulations were heavy, participation was narrow, and innovation was minimal. Yet this stagnation, the author argues, was not wasted time; it preserved the market infrastructure while exposing the costs of sidelining capital markets in a growing economy.
A major shift in the narrative comes with liberalization. Rustomjee treats the 1990s not merely as a policy turning point but as a cultural transformation.
The creation of the National Stock Exchange marks a decisive break from closed, opaque trading practices. Electronic trading, screen-based price discovery, and nationwide access fundamentally altered who could participate in the market.
Advancement here is shown as both technological and psychological—investors begin to trust systems more than individuals. One of the book’s strongest contributions is its focus on institutions.
Rustomjee details how dematerialization of shares, faster settlement cycles, and the strengthening of regulatory bodies gradually reduced friction and fraud.
Market scandals, particularly episodes of manipulation, are framed not as derailments but as stress tests. Each crisis exposes weaknesses, leading to tighter oversight and stronger frameworks.
In this sense, advancement is depicted as reactive, built through correction rather than ideal planning.
“Running Behind Lakshmi” frames the advancement of India’s stock market as a reflection of India’s broader economic journey—slow to trust markets, cautious in reform, but capable of rapid transformation once momentum builds.
Rustomjee’s detailed historical storytelling makes it clear that today’s sophisticated financial ecosystem is the product of decades of learning, failure, and institutional evolution.
The book stands as both a history of markets and a reminder that progress in finance, like progress in nations, is never linear.
How India’s stock market learned to modernize itself
