Financial Technologies (India) Ltd (FTIL) has put off to May 10 a decision on its 24 per cent stake sale in Multi Commodity Exchange of India as the bidders have not submitted binding bids in the wake of the release of an executive summary of special audit of the books of MCX conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

A few of the bidders had sought a full PwC report and some additional information on MCX, FTIL said in a communication to the stock exchanges today.

The company said its board had met on May 2 and took into account progress on the divestment of 24 per cent stake in MCX since the board had met on April 25. The FTIL board was to discuss about the final bidder at its meeting held on Friday.

But in the wake of the MCX releasing an executive summary of a special PwC audit of the books of MCX, some of the participants in the bidding process had sought the full report apart from more information about MCX. This had been forwarded to MCX by the company's merchant bankers. Because of this, FTIL said “the bidders have not submitted the binding bids”.

FTIL’s board will meet again on May 10 to review the progress on the matter of divestment of 24 per cent stake in MCX, the company said.

According to a PwC audit report, MCX had entered into agreements with related trading parties and paid about Rs 709 crore to its former promoter FTIL and group companies without following a proper documentation process. However, FTIL, denying the allegation, said it would take legal recourse against the exchange and the PwC for painting a wrong picture in the report.

Following the NSEL scam, the Forward Markets Commission had said FTIL should not hold more than 2 per cent stake in a commodity bourse, forcing FTIL to prune its holding from 26 per cent in MCX to 2 per cent by offloading 24 per cent of its stake in MCX.

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