Mahindra, Pai on search panel for next NSE CEO

Mumbai: Anand Mahindra and T V Mohandas Pai are part of a four-member panel named by the board of National Stock Exchange (NSE) to identify a successor for

Chitra Ramkrishna

, who abruptly quit as MD &

CEO

of the exchange last week. The two other members of the panel are Usha Thorat, former deputy governor of the RBI, and Dinesh Kanabar, an independent director at NSE.

Mahindra is the chief of auto major Mahindra and Mahindra, while NSE’s independent director Pai is chairman of Manipal Global Education. “The selection committee, after following the due process, will recommend the name(s) to the Nomination and Remuneration Committee and the board of NSE for appropriate decision,” a statement issued by the exchange said.

In a surprise move, Ramkrishna had stepped down as chief of the country’s largest exchange even as it was preparing for a listing. An NSE release said that Ramkrishna, who was with NSE for 23 years, stepped down “due to personal reasons”. Following this, the NSE board appointed J Ravichandran as interim CEO.

According to sources, Ramkrishna’s resignation was partially due to her differences with some of the board members relating to issues which included the exchange’s run-ins with the markets regulator, Sebi. According to a NSE shareholder, Ramkrishna was not able to give as much time to the bourse's IPO “as was required from the person at the top”. Along with SBI and its group companies, which is the top shareholder in the bourse, there are several other domestic and foreign financial institu tions that hold shares in NSE.