Merchant Banking Past and Present: Indian Scenario

Abstract

Merchant  banking  covers  wide range  of  financial  activities  and  in  process  include  a  number  of  different  financial  institutions. Merchant banks are popularly called "Accepting and issuing houses”.The merchant banking services were first ushered by foreign banks, namely "the National Grindlays Bank” in 1967 and the "City bank”in 1970.During such stage the need for specialized merchant banking services was felt in India with the rapid growth and size of the issues made in the primary market. It was only in 1992 after the formation of Securities and Exchange Board of India, which defined a set of rules and regulations for merchant banking activity in spite of the fact that it was introduced two decades ago. The research paper has given an overall view of merchant banking in past as well as present with respect to India. Merchant banking is one of the oldest and specialized financial intermediaries in the primary market. Currently merchant banking activity has developed rapidly in the Indian capital market with more than 1450 merchant bankers and more than 930 has registered with SEBI. Merchant banking in India has a very bright future in the coming years and has all potential in competing with International countries.