Ashish Kumar Chauhan is the next NSE CEO

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has approved the appointment of Ashish Kumar Chauhan as managing director and chief executive officer of National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) for a period of five years.

The appointment of Chauhan — who is currently the CEO of India's oldest exchange BSE — is subject to acceptance of the offer made to him and fulfilment of terms and conditions including approval from the shareholders of NSE.

The five-year term of NSE's current chief executive Vikram Limaye ended last week. The tenure of Chauhan at BSE will come to an end on November 17, 2022.

The appointment comes at a time when the NSE has been fined ₹7 crore by market regulator SEBI for alleged collusion in the 2015 dark-fibre case. Former NSE chief Chitra Ramkrishna and her key aide Anand Subramanian have also been penalised in the case.

"In the interim, the Governing Board of NSE has decided the following framework till the new MD & CEO assumes charge: 1. An Internal Executive Committee comprising of Yatrik Vin, Group CFO and head corporate a, Priya Subbaraman, chief regulatory officer, Somasundaram KS, chief enterprise risk and information security officer, and Shiv Kumar Bhasin, chief technology and operations officer has been constituted for the purpose of running the affairs of the company," the world's largest derivatives exchange by volume says in a statement.

The committee will be dissolved upon the new MD & CEO assuming office, it adds.

India's largest bourse had invited applications for a new managing director and chief executive officer in March this year.

The new NSE CEO is also expected to steer the exchange's plan to launch an initial public offering (IPO). "Exposure to operating in a publicly listed company or having led an organisation through an 'initial public offering' process will be an advantage," read the NSE CEO job description when the exchange invited applications in March.

Following the Chitra Ramkrishna fiasco, the exchange had sought applications from candidates with "highest ethical standards" having a track record of "enterprise risk management".

Earlier this year, SEBI imposed penalties on Ramkrishna and others for taking executive decisions under the guidance of an alleged Yogi. Ramkrishna was accused of appointing Anand Subramanian as chief strategic advisor without following any HR procedures; awarding him with stupendous salaries worth crores; and not complying with regulatory norms while conferring him with disproportionate official powers.

Subramanian is a prime suspect as the mysterious Yogi who was remote-controlling Chitra during her tenure at NSE. He had been on the agency radar in the 2015 NSE co-location scam case in which some of the traders were allegedly provided preferential access to trade data.

Ramkrishna was last week arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for illegally tapping telephones of NSE employees between 2009 and 2017.

Meanwhile, India's oldest exchange BSE too had invited applications for the post of managing director and chief executive officer in March. As per SEBI guidelines, a person may be appointed as MD and CEO for a maximum of two terms not exceeding five years each, subject to an age limit of 65 years.