What is the role of a Stock Exchange in buying and selling shares?

The stock exchanges in India, under the overall supervision of the regulatory authority, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), provide a trading platform, where buyers and sellers can meet to transact in securities. The trading platform provided by NSE is an electronic one and there is no need for buyers and sellers to meet at a physical location to trade. They can trade through the computerized trading screens available with the NSE trading members or the internet based trading facility provided by the trading members of NSE.

What is Demutualisation of stock exchanges?

Demutualisation refers to the legal structure of an exchange whereby the ownership, the management and the trading rights at the exchange are segregated from one another.

How is a demutualised exchange different from a mutual exchange?

In a mutual exchange, the three functions of ownership, management and trading are concentrated into a single Group. Here, the broker members of the exchange are both the owners and the traders on the exchange and they further manage the exchange as well. This at times can lead to conflicts of interest in decision making. A demutualised exchange, on the other hand, has all these three functions clearly segregated, i.e. the ownership, management and trading are in separate hands.