Vikram Limaye awaits Sebi nod to join NSE, 2 months on

Some expect him to join by May, while IDFC website shows he is still its MD & CEO

It has been over two months since the country’s top bourse, the National Stock Exchange (NSE), zeroed in on its choice of managing director and chief executive officer. But, Vikram Limaye is yet to take charge as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has not yet cleared his appointment, according to three people familiar with the matter. Interim CEO J Ravichandran has begun his fifth month at the helm. 

Meanwhile, 50-year-old Limaye continues to be listed as the managing director and CEO of IDFC, the listed infrastructure financier. 

One of the persons cited above said, “The Sebi clearance is expected any time now and he is expected to join NSE in May.” Meanwhile, the bourse’s nomination and remuneration committee met this week to discuss various human resources-related issues. An NSE spokesperson did not respond to an e-mail sent on Thursday, seeking comments. 

A second person aware of such high-level appointment processes said, “Usually, such appointments happen in a nuanced manner, where all approvals are more or less synchronised and happen within a matter of few days. However, this seems a slightly long wait.” 

The persons quoted above suggested the new dispensation at Sebi might be in the process of getting a grasp of various NSE-related issues under consideration. New Sebi Chairman Ajay Tyagi took over on March 1. They also pointed out that it has been “only a month” since NSE shareholders cleared the appointment. 

Apart from the clearance of Limaye’s appointment, the regulator is also examining the unfair access issue and the offer document of NSE’s proposed Rs 10,000-crore initial public offering. 

After Sebi’s clearance, Limaye would also need time to wrap up his IDFC role. An IDFC spokesperson did not respond to an e-mail seeking comments on succession planning and the scenario at the company after Limaye departs. 

In fact, the approval processes, which included clearance by shareholders, have taken longer than it took for the bourse to select its new head. NSE’s previous chief Chitra Ramakrishna stepped down from her position, citing personal reasons on December 2. 

On December 5, a selection panel, including industrialist Anand Mahindra, former RBI deputy governor Usha Thorat, TV Mohandas Pai and Dinesh Kanabar, was appointed. 

The bourse received about 90 applications for the job, most of them from non-financial market professionals. Besides Limaye, IAS officer Sanjeev Kaushik, NSE's senior executive Ravi Varanasi, IFCI’s Deputy Managing Director Sanjeev Kaushik and Indostar Capital CEO Vimal Bhandari were some of the candidates who were said to be in the race for the top job at NSE. Candidates were interviewed in mid-January. 

In less than two months since the panel was formed, on February 3, the board of directors led by Chairman Ashok Chawla decided to appoint Limaye. The shareholders of NSE, which included state-run institutions and foreign private equity funds, cleared the appointment at an extraordinary general meeting on March 7. 

Limaye is a chartered accountant and an MBA in finance and multinational management from the Wharton School. He has spent more than a decade at IDFC. Before this, he worked on Wall Street with Credit Suisse First Boston for eight years. Days before his selection as NSE CEO, the Bombay Scottish alumnus was also named to a four-member panel set up by the Supreme Court to run the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).