NSE senior executive Ravi Varanasi in fray for top job

Tarun SharmaMoneycontrol

Ravi Varanasi, Chief of Business Development at National Stock Exchange, has thrown his hat in the ring for the top job in his organisation, sources told Moneycontrol. Varanasi has been with the exchange for nearly 22 years and is said to be close to Ravi Narain, who served as Managing Director & CEO between 2001 and 2013.

In all, the NSE has received around 100 applications for the MD & CEO’s position, which fell vacant last month following Chitra Ramakrishnan’s sudden resignation.

A board member of NSE had written to all employees that whoever met the eligibility parameters was free to apply, sources said.

They said some former NSE senior employees too have applied for the position. They include R Sundararaman, former head of NSCCL, Kamala K, former head of inspection and compliance, and M L Soneji, who had a stint with the BSE as chief operating officer after quitting NSE. Former BSE CEO Madhu Kannan too is learnt to have applied for the position.

Around 25-30 people will be shortlisted for the interview, and the entire process of selection including interview of candidates, recommendation of the names to the respective committee and board would be over by the end of this month, sources said. The last date for recommending names of eligible candidates to SEBI is February 2.

There is a view that the selection committee may recommend an internal candidate rather than an external one to maintain continuity as the exchange will be going public shortly.