| india’s greatest leaders 2019-20 | 17
Ashishkumar ChauhanA Prodigy Committedto Nation BuildingHighly respected as a living legend, who has prudently contributed to permanent improvements in theIndian economy, Mr. Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD & CEO of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is credited withsetting up India’s first fully automated screen-based trading system and the first commercial satellitecommunications networkParagon of economic excellence, Mr.Chauhan’s prominence in the Indianeconomy may be judged by the factsthat he is the father of modern financialderivatives in India, is one of the foundersof India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE),and has created several path-breakingframeworks in India such as the Nifty Indexand NSE certifications in financial markets.Joining the first stock exchange of Asia,Bombay Stock Exchange, as Deputy CEOin 2009, Mr. Chauhan became its CEOin 2012, and consistently worked on itstechnological and financial upgradationtill it became the fastest Exchange in theworld with less than 6 microseconds’response time.Mr. Chauhan shares his delight, “Weare the fastest stock exchange in theworld, with 6 micro seconds in responsetime. It is 10 times faster than the secondfastest which has 60 micro seconds. In acompetitive scenario, where you are thechallenger, you have to keep evolving. Thetechnological advances have definitelyhelped improve the perception of BSE.”He was also instrumental in bringingfurther refinements such as introducingMobile Trading for the first time inIndia, a state-of-the-art online real-timesurveillance system, and introducingseveral market-leading products such asSME, Currencies, Mutual Funds, CorporateBonds, Offer for Sale, Offer to Buy andmany more.Unparalleled Excellence sincethe OutsetEducationally qualified as a BTech inMechanical Engineering from IIT Bombayand a PGDM from IIM Kolkata, he wasrecruited from the campus as an officer bythe Industrial Development Bank of India(now IDBI Bank) in 1991. Soon after, hecame in limelight as the Government ofIndia commenced the establishment ofthe National Stock Exchange. Mr. Chauhanjoined the core team that founded the NSE,and for the next seven years from 1993to 2000, busied himself in instituting itsequities and derivatives markets.He took care of NSE’s market operations,memberships, clearing and settlement,surveillance, regulations, sales, marketing,IT, premises and so on, and created thetrading infrastructure of NSE. He was alsoinstrumental in creating NSE-50 (Nifty) thatis today the most traded index in derivativesin India, NSE’s certification in FinancialMarkets (NCFM), and IPOs through screenand several other innovations in the Indiancapital markets.Creating a powerful reputation in theIndian economy, he continued his exemplaryand ingenious work and inaugurated NSE’sInformation Technology infrastructurewith its first commercial satellite telecomnetwork in India, and then helped in theconceptualization of National SecuritiesClearing Corporation (NSCCL) and inthe establishment of National Securities“We are the fastest stock exchange in theworld in response time, 10 times fasterthan the second fastest”Depository Limited (NSDL). During hisNSE tenure, he was part of a team of threethat maintained NSE’s risk managementsystem and together developed what isa standard practice today – a metric tomeasure liquidity in stocks, called impactcost.For the next nine years, from 2000 to2009, he worked with the Reliance Group asits President and Chief Information Officer,and also chose to fulfill responsibilitiesas the CEO of the Mumbai Indians cricketteam in its formative years.In 2009, he decided to come on boardthe Bombay Stock Exchange as its DeputyCEO, and after four years was appointedas its CEO in 2012. Bringing severalinnovative practices since then, he hasmade BSE the fastest Exchange in theWorld and successfully completed theIPO of BSE in 2017, oversubscribed by51 times the expectations. He has alsobeen instrumental in establishing India’sFirst International Exchange. He has alsoled BSE into trading of gold and silvercontracts, and consequently enteringinto the commodity derivatives segment,making it India’s first universal stockexchange that offers all assets classes,including equity, mutual funds, currency,and commodity in its portfolio.His consistent ingenuity in numerousfields for about three decades hasbrought him peerless expertise inInformation Technology, Finance, Markets,Micro structure of markets, cricket,telecommunications, organized retail, Oil& Gas refining and Indian social issues.Distinguished RecognitionsWith his illustrious performance, winningawards has become natural for him, as hisnational and international honours includebeing Distinguished Fellow, Institute ofDirectors; Distinguished Alumnus Award,IIM Calcutta; CEO of the Year, DiamondSabre Awards; Indian Business Leaderof the Year, Horasis Interlaken; RH PatilAward for Excellence in Financial Services;Distinguished Alumnus Award, IndianInstitute of Technology, Bombay; Best CEOin the Financial Markets in the Asia Pacific,Asian Banker; Zee Business Award forSpecial Contribution in Commodities andCapital Market; TOP 50 CIOs, InformationWeek; and many more.Future StrategiesEver ready to foray into newer segments,he has plans to expand BSE into insuranceand power trading. His efforts towardsbuilding a joint venture with the US-basedEbix, the largest insurance exchange inthe world, have bore fruits, and in thelast week of October 2019 BSE obtainedan in-principle approval for Certificate ofRegistration to act as a direct insurancebroker under the IRDAI (Insurers Brokers)Regulations, 2018.Mr. Chauhan shares, “BSE has started astart-up platform for anyone raising smallfunds of Rs 1–5 crore. We already have anSME platform. Sebi is also trying to bringin rules for larger high-tech companies.When some of these companies turnunicorn, they will be an already-listedunicorn. So one needs to see if you wantto have the existing unicorns go for IPOsor new companies that are already listedbecome unicorns.BSE’s commodities market has alsostarted in a promising way and looks setfor a multi-fold growth in the next fewyears.”18 | india’s greatest leaders 2019-20 |