Prior to its association with Merrill Lynch, DSPML was known as DSP Financial Consultants Limited (DSP), a pre-eminent investment bank and securities house. Founded in 1975, DSP Financial Consultants Limited was promoted by the Kothari family of D. S. Purbhoodas and Co., a stock broker and foreign exchange dealer.
D.S. Purbhoodas and Co., one of the oldest broking houses in the country today, was also one of the founding members of The Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE). Each generation of D. S. Purbhoodas and Co. has seen a partner serving as President of the Bombay Stock Exchange, bearing testimony to the long-standing position D. S. Purbhoodas & Co. occupies in the Indian financial arena.