The National Stock Exchange (NSE) will continue to prioritise its regulatory responsibilities over commercial considerations after becoming a listed company, managing director and chief executive officer Ashishkumar Chauhan said.
He was addressing concerns over the potential conflict between its role as a market infrastructure institution and a publicly listed business. “We are regulators first and a business second,” Chauhan said during the exchange’s IPO press conference.
His comment came in response to a question on how NSE would manage the inherent conflict of being a first-line regulatory institution while also becoming a listed company, which is accountable to public shareholders.
Chauhan added that whenever there is a conflict, NSE will continue to act as a regulator and align itself with SEBI, with the business considerations taking a secondary position.
The issue assumes significance as NSE prepares to list its shares. This will give public investors an economic interest in the performance of an institution that plays a central role in India’s capital markets. The management said this structure contributes to NSE’s ability to monitor the market and manage risk.