Manoj Vaish quits as MCX MD

Ongoing tussle between promoter FTIL and regulator FMC to pose a big challenge for Vaish

Manoj Vaish on Wednesday quit as managing director of Multi-Commodity Exchange, submitting his resignation to Satyendra Mishra, chairman of the exchange’s board. Sources close to him said he had been facing health issues for many days.

Vaish had taken charge as managing director on February 1. If his resignation is accepted, his term as managing director will be the shortest in MCX’s history.

Both Vaish and Mishra couldn’t be reached for comment. Sources said the MCX board might ask Vaish to continue as managing director till a transition was made.

In the last three months, Vaish has faced several challenges. The most significant of these was to adhere to the ‘fit and proper’ order issued by the Forward Markets Commission against the exchange’s anchor investor, Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL). FMC had directed MCX to ensure FTIL reduced its stake in the exchange from 26 per cent to two per cent.

FMC didn’t issue a directive to FTIL in this regard, saying it didn’t have the power to do so. There is no provision in the statute under which a company can ask its shareholders to sell stake. Two months ago, FTIL had said it had appointed an investment advisor to sell its stake in MCX. Jignesh Shah, chairman and group chief executive of FTIL, on Wednesday said the entity was prepared to complete the stake sale soon after it received binding offers in this regard.

Vaish’s resignation came on a day when FMC’s deadline to ensure compliance with its ‘fit and proper’ order ended. FMC has convened a meeting of the commission to act upon the non-compliance of the order and decide on action on a PricewaterhouseCoopers report following a special audit of MCX..