MUMBAI : Vikram Limaye, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), has decided against seeking another term when his tenure ends in July. This also means the next CEO, who has not been selected yet, will steer the process of the exchange’s long-delayed public listing.

“I have informed the board that I am not interested in pursuing a second term and will, therefore, not be applying or participating in the process that is underway. “My tenure ends on 16 July 2022. I have done my best to lead the organization in a very difficult period and to stabilize, strengthen, and transform NSE. We have come a long way in terms of controls, governance, technology, regulatory effectiveness, and business growth. I am grateful to all stakeholders, regulators, and the government for the support extended to me," he said.

On 4 March, the board of NSE published an ad inviting applications to head India’s leading stock exchange.

Limaye was appointed for a five-year term after former CEO Chitra Ramkrishna resigned without completing her term. She is currently in federal custody for seven days because of her alleged role in the so-called co-location scam.

The recent spate of regulatory orders and investigative actions against the former management of NSE has only prolonged the uncertainty around NSE’s public offer. When the company first spoke of listing its shares in 2016, the exchange had just 70 shareholders. This has since increased to 2,200. Back then, the exchange was valued at Rs40,000 crore and this figure has gone up to Rs2 trillion now.

“Investors are feeling impatient as the recent spate of regulatory orders and enforcement action has pushed the listing of NSE towards an uncertain future. They were patient till October 2019, but now they do not understand what the hold-up is. The pending litigation surrounding the co-location case and lapses in governance can be disclosed as risk factors in IPO documents, but the regulatory nod is pending," said a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

In April 2019, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had held NSE and its former management guilty of giving unfair access to a few brokers when they accessed the exchange’s co-location facility. It had also barred the exchange from listing its shares for six months, which ended in October 2019.

Since then, NSE has written to Sebi at least three times for permission to start the IPO process. However, the regulator has not given a go-ahead yet.

“Sebi wants to give a go-ahead to NSE only after some clarity emerges in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe. CBI recently widened the scope of its investigations and it is still in the nascent stage," said a person familiar with the regulator’s thinking.

The new chief will take over the exchange at a time it is facing reputational damage, but is also in a much healthier financial position.

NSE’s financial metrics are comparable to large-cap firms. Its estimated earnings for fiscal 2022 is Rs8,500 crore in revenue and Rs5,800 crore in profit before tax. In the past five years, NSE’s market share has grown so much that it has become a near monopoly. In fiscal 2017, NSE’s market share for capital markets stood at 85%. This has grown to 92% as of FY22. In the derivatives segment, it is at 100%.