Race for top positions at BSE and NSE enters the final lap

V Balasubramaniam, MD and CEO of India INX – a unit of BSE, Mrugank Paranjape, MD & CEO of NCDEX eMarkets, Sundararaman R, chief operating officer at Bank of America, GV Nageswara Rao, former MD & CEO of National Securities Depository (NSDL), Neeraj Kulshrestha, BSE’s chief regulatory officer and Ravikumar Duraisamy, former Sebi official and member of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), are among those in the race to lead BSE.

In response to queries from ET, BSE and V Balasubramaniam declined to comment. Duraisamy confirmed he applied to both NSE and BSE.

“I have applied for NSE and BSE for the MD & CEO post, and I have not received any intimation for interaction. Received a mail from consultancy firm Korn Ferry of NSE that my candidature was not found suitable by of NSE,” he said in an email response.

NSE, Chauhan, Dasgupta, Vin, Paranjape, Sundararaman, Rao, and Kulshrestha did not respond to ET’s queries seeking comment.

NSE and BSE had invited applications for the post of MD and CEO in March.

According to Sebi guidelines, a person may be appointed as the MD and CEO for two terms not exceeding five years each, subject to the maximum age limit of 65 years. The NSE advertisement for the top post had put an age limit of 60 years.

Chauhan cannot seek reappointment at BSE as he has completed two terms. His tenure ends in November. NSE’s MD and CEO Vikram Limaye, 55, whose five-year term ends on July 16, did not apply for the second term despite being eligible.

The industry is abuzz with speculation that BSE’s Chauhan and Dasgupta could be the front runners for NSE’s top post.

Balasubramaniam and Paranjape might be the top contenders for BSE.

The Nomination and Remuneration Committees of both the exchanges will shortlist the candidates and send the names to the respective boards, which will recommend them to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for approval.

In FY21, Limaye received a total remuneration of Rs 10.22 crore at NSE. BSE paid Rs 8.4 crore to Chauhan.

Chauhan, 54, was one of the NSE’s founding members in 1993, while 55-year-old Yatrik Vin is the current chief financial officer and has been with the exchange for the past 23 years.

Dasgupta, an ICICI Group veteran since 1992, became the MD and CEO of ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company in 2009.

Paranjape was the MD and CEO of the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) between 2014 and 2019 before joining the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX).

Balasubramaniam was BSE’s chief business officer before becoming the head of India INX.