High Frequency Trading: NSE Vice Chairman Ravi Narain Resigns

Buildings are reflected on the glass windows of the NSE (National Stock Exchange) building in Mumbai. (Image: Reuters)

Mumbai: NSE Vice Chairman Ravi Narain had put in his papers amid regulators intensifying their probe into alleged lapses in high-frequency trading offered through the exchange’s ‘co-location’ facility.

The role of some top officials including Narain, who is also an ex-CEO of the bourse, is also being looked into by markets regulator Sebi.

Sources said Narain stepped down as Vice Chairman to ensure that Sebi is able to take appropriate steps in the co- location case in a fair manner.

He has taken the decision keeping in mind best corporate governance practices, they added.

The Finance Ministry is also keeping a “close watch” on the case and wants Sebi to fast-track the investigations as it involves the country’s largest stock exchange in terms of turnover and may have a bearing on the overall market sentiment, sources had earlier said.

The case relates to some brokers allegedly getting preferential access through co-location facility at the NSE, early login and ‘dark fiber’ which can allow a trader a split-second faster access to data feed of an exchange. Even a split-second faster access is considered to result in huge gains for a trader.

Narain has been with NSE since its inception in 1994 when late R H Patil set up this exchange as India’s first automated bourse and an alternative to BSE, the then the country’s largest exchange.

He had served as managing director and CEO of the stock exchange for 12 years.