Ashishkumar Chauhan set to become NSE MD, CEO; Sebi clears his appointment

Ashishkumar Chauhan, who is one of the founders of NSE, has the uphill task of guiding the exchange, which is facing the regulatory probe in a case pertaining to governance lapses at the bourse as well as in the co-location matter.

By: ENS Economic Bureau

Mumbai | Updated: July 18, 2022 03:24 AM IST

2 min read

At BSE, Chauhan helped it become the world's fastest exchange with 6 microseconds response time, completed its IPO, revived its revenues, introduced mobile stock trading to India, diversified in new areas including currency, commodities and equity derivatives, SME, start-ups, mutual fund and insurance distribution, spot markets and power trading. (Ashish Chauhan/Twitter)

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has approved the appointment of Ashishkumar Chauhan as the next Managing Director and CEO of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the country’s largest stock exchange.

Chauhan is currently the MD and CEO of the BSE and his tenure will end in November this year. He will join in place of Vikram Limaye whose five-year tenure ended on July 15.

Chauhan is one of the founders of the NSE where he worked from 1992 to 2000. At the NSE, he was involved in setting up India’s first fully automated screen-based trading system and first commercial satellite communications network.

This is Chauhan’s second tenure in the BSE and under SEBI guidelines, a candidate cannot be appointed as MD & CEO for more than two tenures. BSE is also searching for a new CEO in place of Chauhan.

Also read | ‘Dark fibre’ case: NSE, Chitra Ramkrishna, 16 others fined

As per Sebi norm, the MD and CEO of a stock exchange has to apply and compete with other candidates for the top job after the completion of the five-year term. Limaye was appointed the NSE chief in July 2017 following the exit of Chitra Ramkrishna amid the probe into co-location scam.

According to market observers, the priority of Chauhan will be to implement fair and ethical corporate and market governing practices at the NSE, which was hit by a series of scandals. He will also have to prepare the exchange for the much-delayed IPO.

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Market regulator had earlier penalised Limaye’s predecessors Ravi Narain and Chitra Ramkrishna for alleged lapses in corporate governance during the appointment of its group operating officer Anand Subramanian. In 2019, NSE was also penalised for giving preferential access to some stock brokers between 2012-2014 through their co-location facility.

Earlier in March, NSE, the largest derivatives exchange in the world, invited applications for the MD & CEO position.

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