Board knew of NSE chief’s misconduct

The CBI probe into the case of NSE ex-MD Chitra Ramkrishna sharing confidential information with a mysterious yogi, has now widened to examine the irregularities in the exchange’s location facility. Certain brokers are said to have benefitted from preferential access on NSE’s trading platform between 2010 and 2015. The controversy first came to light in January 2015 through a whistleblower’s mail.

Through this explainer, we try to decode what the case is all about, the chain of events dating back since 2009, and the loopholes that were exploited by certain brokers.

Chitra Ramakrishna

She had been praised and awarded for being the first woman to lead a stock exchange and for being part of NSE’s founding team. That was three decades ago. Today, she stands accused of corporate misgovernance for allowing an outsider to run the exchange by proxy and making an inexplicable hire for a senior management post, paying a salary disproportionate to his experience. These were revealed when the regulator was investigating the co-location scam, in which the NSE was accused of giving some brokers preferential access to price feeds. The former MD and CEO of the NSE resigned in 2016, and has been fined Rs 4 crore .