Manoj Vaish appointed CEO of MCX

Bourse to trim promoter stake by January 18

The bankers-dominated selection committee of the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) on Thursday elected Manoj Vaish as the managing director and chief executive officer of the bourse, under regulatory glare following troubles at the promoter group.

MCX informed the BSE the board had recommended to the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) that Manoj Vaish be made the managing director and chief executive (CEO) for three years from the date of joining, subject to regulatory approvals.

The board was also expected to consider Financial Technologies India Limited (FTIL) and MCX stake dilution in MCX-SX, according to a Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) order. But nothing could be confirmed regarding this.

FTIL holds 26 per cent stake in MCX, which FMC had asked to be brought down to two per cent. The board meeting, however, decided to trim the promoters' stake to five per cent by January 18, according to sources.

The regulator had late last month said the promoter, Jignesh Shah, and the promoter-group, FTIL, were not "fit and proper" to run the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL), MCX or any other exchange in the country.

After a marathon board meeting that lasted over six hours on Thursday, the new MCX board, comprising representatives of various banks, selected Vaish, who at present is the managing director of NSDL Database Management. Vaish was an executive director of the BSE between 1998 and 2004 and chief executive of financial services research firm Dun & Bradstreet.

The board interviewed seven candidates and three were shortlisted - Dilip Bhatia, CEO of Ace Commodities Exchange; Anil Mishra, managing director and CEO of National Multi-Commodity Exchange and Manoj Vaish - sources said. The interviews were conducted after Shreekant Javalgekar stepped down as the managing director and chief executive officer of MCX following the Rs 5,600-crore scam at its sister concern, NSEL, co-promoted by MCX promoter Financial Technologies, in late July.

More than 70 people had applied for the top job at MCX, including two exchange insiders, a former National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) chief and officials of Reliance Commodities, IFCI, Central Depository Services and NSDL Database Management, sources said. While Satyanand Mishra was appointed MCX chairman late last year, the selection of the new MD was important as FTIL promoter has already been declared as not fit and proper to run the exchange.