NSE proposes to give CEO Rs8 crore in annual pay

New Delhi: Newly appointed NSE chief Vikram Limaye will get a pay package nearly double the combined salaries drawn by the CEOs of rival exchanges BSE and Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India (MSEI) in the last fiscal. The National Stock Exchange (NSE), which is preparing for the nearly Rs10,000 crore initial public offer, has proposed an annual remuneration of Rs8 crore for Limaye.

An analysis shows that his proposed annual pay would be nearly double that of the total remuneration earned by the chiefs of BSE and MSEI. BSE managing director and CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan received a pay packet of Rs3.26 crore in fiscal 2015-16.

The exchange, the world’s largest by number of listed companies, got listed earlier this month. Rival bourse MSEI’s managing director and CEO Saurabh Sarkar, who tendered his resignation in October 2015, was paid Rs93.93 lakh while his successor Udai Kumar—who assumed office on January 22, 2016—received Rs13.58 lakh till end of March 2016.

These figures are from the annual reports of the respective exchanges for the 2015-16 period. Put together, the salaries of the heads of these two exchanges were little over Rs4 crore in the last financial year. In comparison, Limaye’s pay packet would be nearly double at Rs8 crore.

Recently, NSE board approved the selection of Limaye as its managing director and CEO. It is also subject to clearance from markets regulator Sebi.

The premier exchange would seek shareholders’ nod for his appointment and remuneration package on 7 March. Limaye joins the exchange from IDFC Ltd where his salary totalled Rs3.01 crore in 2015-16 as managing director and CEO.

His predecessor at NSE, Chitra Ramkrishna—who suddenly resigned from the exchange in December last year—had a remuneration of Rs7.87 crore in 2015-16.

Meanwhile, chief of Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) Mrugank Paranjape took home a pay of Rs1.70 crore in the last financial year.