NSE vice chairman Narain resigns from board - source

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The former chief executive of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), Ravi Narain, has resigned from its board, an NSE source said on Friday, as regulators examine whether the exchange had provided unfair advantages to some brokers.

Narain's resignation as vice chairman of the board of India's largest exchange is meant to clear any potential obstacles as the markets regulator looks into NSE's disclosure in December that some traders may have been provided with unfair early access to its servers, the source added.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has sent notices to 17 current and former executives at the NSE, including to Narain, seeking additional information, media reported this week.

"He wanted to take this step to ensure that the whole process can carry on without any controversy," said the source, who had direct knowledge of the matter but declined to be identified as the information was not public.

The NSE did not respond to emailed queries for comment. Narain was not immediately reachable.

Narain was one of the founders of the NSE, set up in 1993 to challenge the more established Bombay Stock Exchange. He has been closely involved with the exchange since then, remaining on the its board after stepping down as chief executive in 2013.

SEBI's scrutiny of its disclosure about the potential unfair access provided to traders has cast a shadow over a planned initial public offering (IPO) that bankers had estimated could raise as much as $1 billion.

Chitra Ramkrishna, who took over from Narain as CEO in 2013, resigned late last year citing personal reasons. The exchange has nominated the CEO of infrastructure lender IDFC Ltd, Vikram Limaye, as its next CEO but SEBI has yet to give its approval.

(Reporting by Abhirup Roy; Editing by Rafael Nam and Douglas Busvine)