How true is the saying ‘Life is stranger than fiction’! Who would believe if a fiction writer depicted a lady who rose to the position of managing director and chief executive of the “world’s largest derivatives exchange” with $1.2 trillion volume by consulting a yogi, who lived mostly in the Himalayas but could manifest himself anywhere?
They would be dismissed as a third-rate writer. What is mentioned above happened truly when Chitra Ramkrishna held the post of MD and CEO of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) between 2013 and 2016, i.e., till she quit the job citing personal reasons.
She was not an outsider, as she had been holding the number two position in the organisation since 2009. One cannot but presume that she knew the ins and outs of India’s largest stock exchange transacting business worth billions of rupees every day. She appointed one Anand Subramanian as a consultant, though he did not have the requisite experience.
For all practical purposes, he became the chief operating officer who received annual, Himalayan increments and perquisites without any audit whatsoever of either his capabilities or contributions. What’s worse, she would share sensitive and secret information with the yogi, including those related to human resources and allowed herself to be guided solely by his advice.
As it transpires, the yogi and Subramanian were the same person whom Chitra Ramkrishna consulted, using a private email service. In other words, she was led up the garden path by her own bluffing subordinate.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has roundly censured the senior officials of the NSE and imposed heavy fines,including on the former MD and CEO. However sordid and mind-boggling the incident is, what is worth noticing is that the board of directors of the NSE could neither detect the bizarre goings-on, nor take timely action against the culprits.
It was a measure of the incompetence of the board that it selected such a person to head the organisation. And when the skeletons began tumbling out of the NSE cupboard, the attempt was more to keep the episode under wraps, for it would have exposed themselves as no better than the MD and CEO herself. The SEBI’s order should set in motion a process which should rule out such incidents in future for at stake is the credibility of the preeminent stock exchange in the country.
