The unknown person, who was guiding Chitra Ramakrishna, former CEO of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), had advised her to reach out to the highest authorities like the finance ministry, Prime Minister’s Office and Sebi for self-listing. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), in its 190-page order on governance lapses at the exchange, said an unknown ‘spiritual force’ in 2015 had advised her to reach out to top officials in the country to make “noises” on self-listing.
Sebi has included an excerpt of the email sent by the unknown person to Ramkrishna on December 4, 2015, and it says: “If one has to drive home a point, then we need to continuously ponder on seeing our agenda through. So, restructuring is already now a buy in. We need to make noises on self-listing by knocking doors of the few. FM, PMO Somanathan, Cabinet Secretary, Economic Advisor and finally the PM. These are not difficult as you think we must do two people in a mix at a time Kanchan will evaluate as per MY will. Don’t worry the straw knows when to be a capillary and when NOT to. Kanchan is the straw and I will be the suction force for this and you will vomit all that is required as always.”
The email further says that after Ramakrishna did the rounds in Delhi, the unknown person said, “…intermittently we must sound SEBI that ministry is also pressing for listing even if we need to do these adjustments… (self listing)…. See what happens, enjoy the run.”
The regulator, in its order dated February 11, alleged that Ramkrishna had sought guidance from the unknown person on various aspects of the functioning of the stock exchange. The order noted that Ramakrishna was completely dependent on an outsider for taking vital managerial decisions of the exchange, which is evident from the email mentioned above, sent to Ramakrishna from the unknown person.
Sebi did not approve of the proposal of self listing by the NSE in May 2016, and said the “present regulatory framework does not provide for self listing but only cross listing”. Later, weeks after Ramakrishna’s resignation, the NSE had filed for a Rs 10,000-crore in December 2016.
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