MCX shortlists 3 for MD post; decision on Thursday

MCX board may meet on Thursday to decide on who to be the MD and CEO of India's largest commodity futures exchange

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The bankers-dominated selection committee of the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) has shortlisted three candidates for the post of managing director and chief executive officer (MD & CEO), in an interview concluded over last weekend.

The new MCX board is likely to meet on Thursday to take a final decision on who to be the MD and CEO of India’s largest commodity futures exchange.

The selection committee consisting of some of the board members, including the representative of State Bank of India, the former CMD of Bank of Baroda, a representative from Corporation Bank and others had called about 15 candidates for the interview, on Thursday and Friday last week.

Atul Rai, former CMD of IFCI; Rajnikant Patel, former MD & CEO of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE); Anil Mishra, MD & CEO of National Multi-Commodity Exchange; Narendra Gupta, former CEO of National Commodities and Derivative Exchange (NCDEX); Rupa Devi Singh, earlier with Crisil and later joined the Power Exchange of India; Dilip Bhatia, CEO of ACE Derivatives and Commodity Exchange, a Kotak-anchored commodity exchange, and Manoj Vaish, managing director NSDL Database Management Ltd.

The interview was conducted after Shreekant Javalgekar resigned as MD & CEO in October after the Forward Markets Commission  ordered the exchange to appoint a new MD within a month. The regulator found Javalgekar guilty of allowing Indian Bullion Markets Association, a company promoted by an MCX group arm National Spot Exchange Ltd,  which faces a Rs 5,500-crore payment crisis.

Satyananda Mishra has assumed charge as new chairman of the exchange. Selection of new candidate will be crucial for the exchange as its anchor investor Financial Technologies of India has been declared not “fit and proper” by the FMC.

While the order was challenged in the Bombay High Court and scheduled for hearing on January 16, the MCX board in its last meeting decided to ask FTIL to reduce its stake from 26 per cent to two per cent of the paid up equity capital within a month.

Such directions are mocked by the investment banking circles as it is practically impossible to dilute stake in such a short time when National Stock Exchange has been struggling for several years to divest their stake in NCDEX.

Several names have been doing the rounds to buy out stake in MCX. These include promoters of rival exchanges, promoters of a sugar company as well as the country’s largest insurance company.