IDFC chief Vikram Lamaye to head NSE
After the sudden exit of former chief Chitra Ramkrishna from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) two months ago, the largest bourse in the country today selected IDFC MD and CEO Vikram Lamaye to fill in the position. The appointment of Lamaye, currently heading the infrastructure finance firm, awaits approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
Who is Vikram Lamaye?
Limaye had started his career in 1987 with Arthur Anderson in Mumbai. He is a chartered accountant with a masters degree in business administration. 50-year-old Vikram Limaye has been heading IDFC for four years. He has also worked with EY, Citibank and Credit Suisse in the past. Limaye was recently appointed to a panel by the Supreme Court for administering cricket body BCCI.
What is NSE?
The National Stock Exchange is India's biggest stock exchange. In terms of transaction, it is the third biggest stock exchange in the world. The daily turnover in the Equity Cash segment of NSE is reported to be around $3 billion.
Why was the position empty?
Founding member Chitra Ramkrishna, also a chartered accountant, resigned as the MD and CEO of the NSE in December. NSE said Ramkrishna had resigned "due to personal reasons". Her move came while the Exchange was getting ready for its initial public offering in January, 2017. NSE group president (finance and legal) and company secretary J Ravichandran had taken over as the interim MD, CEO.
SEBI eyes on NSE
The request for approving the new MD-CEO comes at a time when SEBI is examining allegations that NSE gave unfair access on its algorithmic trading platform to some preferred brokers. Deloitte India was asked to prepare a forensic audit report to investigate these preferential access charges against NSE. The Deloitte report identified cases of technical lapse that led to unfair access on algorithm trading.
