Top priorty to resolve regulatory issues: NSE chief Vikram Limaye

Vikram Limaye, who today assumed offices as the managing director and chief executive of the National Stock Exchange, said his top priority is to resolve the regulatory issues being faced by the bourse and then take forward the IPO process.

Limaye also said that taking the largest exchange public through a listing can happen only after the regulatory issues are resolved, which involve the alleged lapses in high-frequency trading through its co-location facility. "My immediate priorities will be to focus on some of the regulatory issues, that the NSE is facing, are sorted out...that obviously is the priority," Limaye told news channels after taking over the charge earlier in the day.

"Obviously IPO is an important priority for me but that would happen only once all the regulatory issues are sorted out," he said. He also noted that it is significant for the exchange to improve relationships with all the stakeholders, including the regulators, the government and the media. "It is also important for the NSE to improve stakeholder relationships, which means relationship with the government, the regulator, the clients, the media and certainly the employees," Limaye said.

"It is important to make sure that all stakeholder relationships are better than what have been in the past," the veteran banker said. The co-location case relates to some brokers allegedly getting preferential access to the NSE servers and early login facilities which have allegedly helped traders make huge gains due to the speedier execution of orders.

The NSE had filed for IPO last December with the Sebi, but the regulatory approval is pending due to issues surrounding the ongoing probe into the co-location case. Limaye, who has been with a IDFC for long, was appointed as the NSE chief in February after the abrupt exit of Chitra Ramkrishna last December.