Multi Commodity Exchange, promoted by the troubled Financial Technologies (India) Ltd, has appointed former BSE head Manoj Vaish as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer for three years.

The appointment, which was approved by the board on Thursday, is subject to the approval of the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) and such other approvals as may be necessary, MCX said in a statement.

Vaish takes over the responsibility from Shreekant Javalgekar, who stepped down as the MD and CEO last October after an investigation into the Rs 5,600-crore scam at group company National Spot Exchange Ltd.

An MBA from FMS (Faculty of Management Studies), Delhi, Vaish completed Ph.D. in Venture Capital.

He started his professional career with ANZ Grindlays Bank.

After a short stint at Deutsche Bank, he joined BSE as an Executive Director and worked for six years till 2004.

After BSE, he joined Dun & Bradstreet India as President and CEO. Since 2010, he has been serving as MD and CEO of NSDL Database Management. Vaish takes charge at a crucial juncture when investors’ confidence in commodity trading is shattered. Besides the NSEL scam, the commodity transaction tax imposed by the Government in July last year shrunk trading volumes on the exchanges.

In a bid to ring fence MCX from the scam at NSEL, the commodity market regulator FMC has replaced the entire MCX board with eminent independent directors and stakeholders’ nominees.

Satyananda Mishra, a retired IAS officer, heads the exchange as its Chairman. Interestingly, the FMC recently rejected the Financial Technologies nomination to appoint Miten Mehta as shareholder director.

While the eminent personalities on the board may stabilise the day-to-day functioning of the exchange, Vaish has the huge responsibility of putting the exchange on the growth path amid testing times.

> suresh.i@thehindu.co.in

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