NSE Invites Applications For New MD, CEO Amid Charges Of Governance Lapses

Incumbent NSE chief Vikram Limaye's five-year term is ending in July

A selection committee set up by the NSE, comprising NRC members and the independent external members, will recommend candidates to the board, which will then send the name to the Sebi for final approval. Image: Getty

New Delhi: National Stock Exchange (NSE), which is facing allegations of governance lapses, starts its hunt for a new chief executive officer (CEO) as the five-year term of the current chief Vikram Limaye is ending in July.

According to a public notice issued on Friday, the exchange has invited applications from candidates having IPO (initial public offering) experience for the role of the top post before March 25.

Limaye is eligible for another term. However, according to the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi’s) rule, the incumbent needs to compete with other candidates to win the next term, the PTI reported.

He was appointed as the NSE chief in July 2017, following the exit of the exchange’s former MD and CEO Chitra Ramkrishna. Among various allegations, issues have been raised in various quarters that why application was not invited at the time when Ramkrishna was appointed as the MD and CEO in 2013.

Limaye is credited with rebranding of the NSE. Derivatives trading has witnessed tremendous growth under his leadership. However, the bourse also suffered an outage last year due to technical glitches.

Listing out eligibility criteria, the NSE’s notice said that the candidate must have a track record of strengthening corporate governance, enterprise risk management and compliance management framework. In addition, the candidates with exposure to working in a publicly listed company or having led an organisation through an initial public offering process “will be an added advantage", it added.

The NSE is planning to come out with its initial share-sale since long. However, the plan to go public derailed after the bourse got embroiled into colocation controversy, where certain brokers were allegedly given unfair access to the exchange data feeds over other members.

After the deadline, the candidates will be short-listed by the nominations and remuneration committee of the company.

A selection committee set up by the NSE, comprising NRC members and the independent external members, will recommend candidates to the board, which will then send the name to the Sebi for final approval.