India is celebrating its 80th Independence Day today, but the Indian stock market has charted its own remarkable journey. Benchmark index Sensex has rallied a whopping 8,500% in less than 35 years since the big bang economic reforms changed the trajectory of the country.
Sensex was launched in January, 1986, soon after which India faced a massive balance of payment crisis that almost pushed the country on the edge of bankruptcy. The then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh warned that the foreign exchange reserves had fallen to such low levels that it would suffice to finance imports for only a fortnight. The government scrambled for emergency loans to protect the economy. Sensex back then was trading below 1,000.
