Sebi Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said on Wednesday that the regulator is not considering self-trading for exchange shares. This follows NSE CEO Ashish Kumar Chauhan suggesting the idea after the exchange’s recent debut. Pandey noted, "If it happens or when it happens, you will come to know," regarding any future changes.
Sebi Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said the regulator is not currently considering self-listing or self-trading of exchange shares, days after NSE CEO Ashish Kumar Chauhan suggested exploring the possibility. Pandey said no Sebi panel is discussing the proposal at present, while Chauhan had cited conflict-of-interest concerns but said the idea could be revisited as the market ecosystem matures.
Sebi Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Wednesday said that the market regulator is not considering self-trading in exchange-traded shares, days after NSE CEO Ashish Kumar Chauhan hinted that the stock exchange may look into the possibility following its debut on the BSE.
Pandey noted that the market regulator is not considering any proposal for self-listing at this point. "If it happens or when it happens, you will come to know," he told reporters on the sidelines of the APMI Annual Conference, saying no Sebi panel is discussing the possibility at present.
This comes after NSE's mega market debut last week and its executive's remarks, which sparked hopes that the stock exchange could trade its shares on its own platform. NSE CEO Ashish Kumar Chauhan recently said that in India, self-listing of an exchange on its own platform carries perception concerns around conflict of interest.
A stock exchange is not a normal listed company. It also runs the market, supervises trading, monitors unusual price moves and acts as a first layer of market oversight. At the same time, Chauhan said it is now time to look at the possibility of self-listing, as the ecosystem has matured.
However, the latest comments by Pandey imply that the market regulator may not be considering any such overhaul at the moment. Currently,
NSE shares trade on BSE while BSE shares trade on NSE.
NSE shares listed last week at Rs 1,800 apiece on
BSE. This marks 0.8% premium over its IPO price of Rs 1,785 apiece, missing grey market estimates. The company's market capitalisation at the time of debut stood at around Rs 4.45 lakh crore. The stock has now fallen below its IPO price.
BSE shares, meanwhile, were added to rival NSE's benchmark index Nifty 50 today, replacing IT major Wipro. The stock, however, dropped 3% after Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas sold more than 68 lakh shares of the stock exchange worth over Rs 2,186 crore through bulk deals.