Sebi clears appointment of Limaye as NSE CEO
Will be allowed to join only after being relieved from BCCI duties
markets regulator on Friday finally approved the appointment of Vikram Limaye as chief executive officer and managing director of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE), making it conditional on him being relieved from a panel of cricket administrators formed by the apex court.
Approval of Limaye’s appointment by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had been held up by his role on the panel overseeing the functioning of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Sebi said on Friday that Limaye, currently managing director and chief executive officer of IDFC Ltd, will join the NSE, India’s largest stock exchange, only after he is released from the BCCI panel.
“The condition in the approval is to ensure that his responsibilities at NSE are not compromised due to his additional role at the BCCI panel,” said a Sebi official on condition of anonymity. The Supreme Court on January 30 formed the fourmember committee, pressing ahead with its efforts to reform the country’s richest sporting body. Sebi’s approval of Limaye’s appointment follows on the heels of an assurance held out to the market regulator by NSE that Limaye will not continue in his BCCI role beyond August and will recuse himself in case of an extension.
NSE expects to start roadshows for an initial public offering (IPO) within a quarter of Limaye’s taking charge, probably in September, Mint had reported on May 12.
NSE has already filed draft papers for the IPO, in which existing shareholders will sell a 25% stake in the bourse.
In any case, NSE plans to list only after allegations that some brokers had secured unfair access to its algorithmic trading systems are resolved, NSE chairman Ashok Chawla had said in an interview on December 16.
Sebi on May 22 issued showcause notices to 14 NSE directors and to the bourse, questioning whether they had failed in their fiduciary responsibility of maintaining market sanctity by allowing unfair access to its system to some brokers.
On April 27, Mint had reported that NSE’s IPO would be delayed till the bourse resolves these allegations and has a full-time CEO in place. Limaye was named CEO and MD of NSE in February.