National Stock Exchange Ltd has picked IDFC Ltd managing director and chief executive Vikram Limaye as the bourse’s MD and CEO after Chitra Ramkrishna resigned two months ago, a senior exchange official said on Friday.
The NSE board selected Limaye for the top job and India’s largest bourse will now seek clearance from the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the person said requesting anonymity. The board is headed by Ashok Chawla, a former finance secretary.
“We hope to receive the regulatory clearance within 10 days as the NSE prepares for an IPO. We require a person to represent the exchange at the highest level when it begins roadshows,†the person said.
The exchange appears to have expedited the process at a time SEBI chairman UK Sinha nears the end of his twice-extended tenure as the chief of the capital markets regulator. Sinha’s term ends on 1 March and NSE is hoping to receive various regulatory clearances by the end of this month.
Ramkrishna tendered her resignation in early December. The Economic Times reported at the time that Ramkrishna had quit due to differences with the board. The bourse, however, denied the report.
The stock exchange, which is on course to list in 2017, then appointed group president J Ravichandra as interim CEO.
NSE has received SEBI approval for an initial public offering, which will be an offer for sale by shareholders.
It has hired Citibank, JM Financial, Kotak Mahindra and Morgan Stanley as lead investment banks for the IPO. It later hired other banks including IDFC Bank and HDFC Bank. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has been appointed as legal adviser for the IPO and PwC is the statutory auditor.
NSE was valued around $2.7 billion in July 2016, when a shareholder pared down its holding. Ramkrishna’s exit came at a time when the NSE was fending off allegations that there was collusion among officials giving some brokers an undue advantage.
The bourse said in a statement on 8 February that it had appointed Limaye as the MD and CEO for five years.
*This article has been modified to include NSE's statement.
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