How do you plan on improving stakeholders relationships?
Cultural changes don’t happen overnight, so it will take time. Some of the adjectives that I have heard when people describe NSE have been inaccessible, arrogant, opaque, high-handed, and I could add a couple more in the same spirit. This cannot be the perception of NSE going forward by its stakeholders.

After working with Arthur Andersen and IDFC what are some of the learnings that you could bring to NSE?
The important thing is to be trustworthy. To succeed one has to combine strategic thinking and attention to detail on execution and have strong people management skills because financial services is a talent-intensive industry. And to demonstrate stewardship one needs to have long-term orientation, put the organisation first, position people for success, and therefore, look at one’s role as an institution builder.

Technology is the backbone of exchanges today where every millisecond makes a difference. Will you outsource or keep it in-house?
A lot of the technology we have has been developed in-house and it’s right up there in terms of reliability and other parameters. But as you said technology is the backbone, it requires constant upgradation and a strategic approach. It doesn’t necessarily have to be all in-house or totally outsourced. It could be both, and it will be a mix of what is in the best interests of the platform.

India is a two trillion dollar economy, yet we don’t a have regional finance centre like say Hong Kong. What more can the exchanges do to encourage that?
Market development is an important part of NSE’s mandate but it has to happen in the best interest of our markets and the country. I think there’s enough to do in the domestic markets at the moment. Becoming a regional financial centre requires various policy changes including currency, taxation, policy, and central bank regulations. NSE will provide objective advice to the government on market development even though what we say may directly impact our own business. It was the same for me at IDFC when it came to infrastructure. Whether we become a regional centre is a longer term play but for now the focus will be on domestic markets and developing our international exchange at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City.