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. It has been published by John Murray / Hachette India.

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.

Read an extract from the book on Moneycontrol.

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.

17 Oct 2025