Problems are far from over for BSE

Rajnikant Patel’s sudden resignation as the MD & CEO of the Bombay Stock Exchange has brought to light the fact that the problems at Asia’s oldest exchange is far from over.

Mahesh L Soneji, chief operating officer, has been given charge of the exchange till a new MD is appointed. While Soneji, who has worked with the National Stock Exchange and the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange, is well experienced, he faces a tough job ahead.

The capital market regulator’s stance has been that the exchange officials should sort out their internal issues themselves. But this is possible only if BSE has a tough taskmaster who can improve its dipping market share, en-cash Brand Sensex and, more importantly, keep brokers away from trying to micro-manage the exchange’s functioning by improving the governance level at the board.

Previous chairman Shekhar Dutta was not the only one to have a short stint at BSE. After M R Mayya, who had a long term from 1983 to 1993, not a single executive director has been able to complete his term.

Interference from brokers is considered to be prime reason behind this. BSE has been a brokers’ club and many broker-members are still not able to digest the fact that they are now just members. Instead they are still eager to micro-manage the show.

BSE’s much younger rival NSE has a distinct edge on this issue. NSE has no broker either as shareholder or on the governing board. NSE has had only two managing directors since 1994 and the second MD Ravi Narain is still serving.

Those who have served BSE in the past in various administrative capacities said that the exchange needs to restructure its board. S T Gerela, former CEO of Clearing and Settlement Corporation of BSE who was also director for business development of the exchange, said the BSE board should not have any brokers as directors and the NSE model should be followed.

The sources said the BSE board has to call frequent meetings as the brokers approach the board whenever they don’t agree to a decision taken by the exchange administration. The BSE board met 14 times in 2006-07, 12 times in 2007-08 after the demutualisation and five times in the last four months of the current year.