IDFC MD Vikram Limaye frontrunner to head NSE

MUMBAI: IDFC managing director Vikram Limaye has emerged as the frontrunner to take over as the MD at IPO-bound National Stock Exchange ( NSE), India's largest stock exchange by turnover.

The board of directors of NSE, chaired by former finance secretary Ashok Chawla, is set to meet here on Friday and is expected to announce Limaye's name for the post, sources said.

Chawla and Limaye did not reply to messages sent to them for their comments.

The post of MD at NSE fell vacant after Chitra Ramakrishna quit the exchange on December 2 citing personal reasons. On December 5, the NSE set up a four-member panel to look for the next MD of the bourse.

The panel members are M&M group chairman Anand Mahindra, former RBI deputy governor Usha Thorat and independent directors at NSE T V Mohandas Pai and Dinesh Kanabar. The process had to be expedited since NSE is on course to list and has filed for its IPO within a month of Ramakrishna's resignation.

On January 30, the Supreme Court appointed Limaye to the four-member panel that will now run the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the apex body for the most popular sport in the country. He is a chartered accountant with an MBA from The Wharton School.

Limaye is currently in Dubai to attend a meeting of the International Cricket Council (ICC).