Bangalore/Mumbai After corporate governance issues and scandals rocked the country’s largest exchange over the past few years, the National Stock Exchange on Monday held its first conference call with investors, aimed at winning back the confidence of potential investors.
NSE’s first investor interaction in its nearly three-decade journey took place soon after former BSE boss Ashish Chauhan took over as managing director of the privately held exchange in August.
The NSE’s management, which includes half a dozen senior leaders, was questioned by investors and analysts on issues related to the co-location scam, the country’s largest exchange going public, and eventually exiting some of its early investors. Offered.
“This is the first quarter call that we will continue to make. We will continue to improve and your feedback will be needed. And I can assure you that each and every response will be taken seriously as we work with all stakeholders moving forward.” Want to build a better relationship,” Chauhan told investors, according to an audio recording of the call reviewed by Mint.
“With regard to the co-location case, there are cases in different courts. So I would not like to comment on this. On the question of corporate governance, this is a thing of the past. Broadly speaking, most of these happened before 2017. And after that, there has been no such issue. But there is an exaggeration in this, and we are all fully aware of it,” Chouhan said.
The co-location case pertains to allegations that NSE officials provided improper access to certain high-frequency traders through co-location servers maintained on the exchange’s site, leading to expedite trading.
Among the corporate governance issues plaguing NSE are the co-location scam and the conduct of its former owners, Ravi Narayan and Chitra Ramakrishna. Earlier this year, the Securities and Exchange Board of India red-flagged the “bizarre misconduct” of an unnamed former NSE executive after the regulator said in an order that the former executive shared confidential information with an alleged Yogi in the Himalayas. Had it.
The change in NSE comes at a time when Madhabi Puri Buch has taken over as the first woman chairman of the markets regulator.
According to a note by Mumbai-based investment bank DAM Capital, NSE also told investors that it intends to sell some of its non-core business, including talent management business and cloud computing business.
NSE’s cloud computing business comes under CXIO Technologies Pvt Ltd. Ltd., as per NSE’s 2022-23 Annual Report, is a step-down subsidiary, owned by the exchange. For the year ended March 31, CXIO Technologies reported a revenue of 59.36 crores.
TalentSpring Pvt. Ltd is an ed-tech firm owned by NSE which provides training in the areas of Deep Tech and Artificial Intelligence. Talent Spring ended last year 72.16 crore in revenue.
NSE sales up 63% over a year ago and improved 12.3% sequentially 3,157.5 crore in July-September. Profit jumped 62% from a year ago and 5% sequentially 1,773.9 crore at the end of the latest quarter.
Some praised NSE’s decision to meet investors.
“When NSE has come, this engagement with stakeholders is a very encouraging move. The exchange is also sending a message to the regulator about its intention,” said an executive at the Bengaluru-based family office, which owns shares in NSE. To be public.”
NSE had first applied for the IPO in December 2016, with the aim of getting listed by the first half of the next year. However, it failed to get the approval of SEBI due to controversies related to the co-location matter.
The cornerstone of Chouhan’s approach is building trust, and during the hour-long conversation, he said: “The stricter the rules, the more people’s confidence in the market grows, and more people come to the markets.”
As of September 30, public shareholders hold 55.67% of the NSE, while trading members and associates of trading members hold the remainder. Foreign investors hold about one-third stake in NSE. The exchange counts Tiger Global and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board as major investors.
Some of the billionaires who hold stake in NSE include Azim Premji, who through his family office Premji Invest owns a 3% stake; NR Narayana Murthy (via Catamaran Ventures); and Radhakishan Damani, who owns 1.58%. The largest among its 3,858 shareholders is LIC, which holds about 10.7%.
catch all business News, market news, today’s fresh news events and breaking news Updates on Live Mint. download mint news app To get daily market updates.