The National Stock Exchange has become the world’s second fastest-growing bourse in terms of number of listed companies, while Bombay Stock Exchange has consolidated its position as the biggest bourse.

NSE recorded a 16.6 per cent jump in the number of listings to 1,274 during one-year period ended July 2007, while BSE has become home to a total of 4,853 companies, the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) said on Wednesday.

NSE has seen a whopping surge of about 13-times in number of listed companies in nearly 13 years from about 100 firms in 1994-95, after it was recognized as a stock exchange under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act in April 1993.

The exchange was next only to a 29 per cent jump in the number of listings at Poland’s Warsaw Stock Exchange in the 12-month period ended July, according WFE’s monthly bulletin.

NSE has been the third fastest with a growth rate of about 15 per cent since April this year, after Warsaw and Malta Stock Exchanges. However, the one-year growth rate at Malta exchange remained stagnant at 15.4 per cent in July, while that of NSE rose from 15.2 per cent to 16.6 per cent.

Moreover, the higher growth clocked by the Warsaw and Malta bourses have been primarily due to a lower base, whose total number of listings are just 316 and 15 respectively. The country’s another premier bourse BSE recorded a growth rate of 1.3 per cent in July, up from one per cent in the year-ended June 2007.

While the BSE added 11 new companies in July 10 new companies listed their shares at the NSE during the month. The growth rate at BSE was lower due to higher base.