AGL 38.50 Increased By ▲ 0.93 (2.48%)
AIRLINK 131.99 Decreased By ▼ -0.51 (-0.38%)
BOP 5.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.71%)
CNERGY 3.84 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (1.86%)
DCL 8.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.22 (-2.48%)
DFML 40.82 Decreased By ▼ -0.18 (-0.44%)
DGKC 88.70 Decreased By ▼ -1.46 (-1.62%)
FCCL 35.16 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.23%)
FFBL 66.50 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
FFL 10.47 Increased By ▲ 0.32 (3.15%)
HUBC 109.51 Increased By ▲ 3.11 (2.92%)
HUMNL 14.66 Increased By ▲ 1.26 (9.4%)
KEL 4.82 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.82%)
KOSM 7.08 Increased By ▲ 0.23 (3.36%)
MLCF 42.50 Increased By ▲ 0.70 (1.67%)
NBP 59.49 Increased By ▲ 0.91 (1.55%)
OGDC 184.20 Increased By ▲ 2.95 (1.63%)
PAEL 25.56 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-0.54%)
PIBTL 5.90 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (1.2%)
PPL 147.52 Decreased By ▼ -0.88 (-0.59%)
PRL 23.51 Increased By ▲ 0.29 (1.25%)
PTC 16.45 Increased By ▲ 1.21 (7.94%)
SEARL 69.19 Increased By ▲ 0.40 (0.58%)
TELE 7.25 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.14%)
TOMCL 35.77 Decreased By ▼ -0.23 (-0.64%)
TPLP 7.55 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (2.03%)
TREET 14.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.28%)
TRG 50.90 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.1%)
UNITY 26.83 Increased By ▲ 0.43 (1.63%)
WTL 1.23 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (1.65%)
BR100 9,813 Increased By 45.5 (0.47%)
BR30 29,780 Increased By 379.7 (1.29%)
KSE100 92,300 Increased By 362.3 (0.39%)
KSE30 28,799 Increased By 55.1 (0.19%)

NEW DELHI: India’s federal police have questioned the former CEO of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and her adviser as part of an investigation into suspected corporate governance lapses at the country’s biggest bourse, a police source said on Tuesday.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) police officials also visited market regulator SEBI’s office to collect documents related to the case, the source told Reuters.

The action is the latest sign the CBI is stepping up its investigation of a 2018 case involving allegations the NSE provided some high frequency traders unfair access to speed up algorithmic trading. The additional scrutiny risks further delaying a listing plan of NSE.

Federal police officials in recent days questioned former NSE CEO Chitra Ramkrishna in Mumbai and her then adviser Anand Subramanian in the southern city of Chennai, the police official said, declining to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The NSE and SEBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Ramkrishna and Subramanian also did not respond. The intensified police probe follows a Feb. 11 order by SEBI that highlighted corporate governance lapses at the exchange. It said Ramkrishna over the years shared confidential NSE data and sought advice from an outsider she described as a Himalayan yogi.

The SEBI order said the former CEO “arbitrarily” appointed Subramanian as her adviser, adding he had “no relevant experience”. In an interview to India’s Economic Times newspaper published on Tuesday, the federal finance minister said the government was probing whether SEBI took adequate action in the NSE matter.

NSE has said it is “committed to highest standards of governance and transparency”, calling the issue “almost 6-9 years old”. Ramkrishna told SEBI during the probe she did not compromise integrity of the exchange.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE CONCERNS

The latest regulatory order is another major setback for the NSE that has struggled to roll out its IPO for years, having already been marred by allegations of governance lapses and technical glitches. The NSE denies any wrongdoing.

The regulatory order said Ramkrishna - who quit as CEO in 2016 - was “merely a puppet” of someone she described as an unnamed yogi in Himalayas who “would manifest at will”. SEBI has said the former CEO made “incorrect and misleading submission” about existence of a yogi.

A former NSE official said the regulatory setback risks delaying NSE’s IPO by several months, while one former senior SEBI official said the NSE must review all major decisions taken by the former CEO.

“It’s shocking, it’s very shocking. It’s brought down the image of the NSE,” said the former SEBI official. The NSE, started in 1994, says it is the world’s biggest derivatives exchange in terms of total number of contracts traded. Ramkrishna joined NSE in the early 1990s and is credited for much of what the exchange stands for today.

The police source said both the former NSE CEO and her then adviser have been prohibited from leaving India for the time being.

Comments

Comments are closed.