MCX chief executive Manoj Vaish gets salary of over Rs 3 crore
As Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) seeks to reinvent itself away from shadows of its founder Jignesh Shah-led Financial Technologies group, its new CEO Manoj Vaish will get an annual remuneration of over Rs 3 crore.
While the bourse, the first and the only listed one in India, sees its profits plummet to a record low level since listing, Mr Vaish has been appointed with a gross pay package of about Rs 3.25 crore, according to exchange documents.
This amount is more than double the remuneration paid to his predecessor Shreekant Javalgekar at Rs 1.4 crore for 2012-13, as mentioned in the exchange's latest annual report.
Mr Vaish has been appointed managing director and CEO of MCX for a period of three years with effect from February 1, 2014, pursuant to a regulatory driven process to restructure the board and top management structure of the exchange.
Mr Javalgekar was appointed as MD and CEO for three years effective July 1, 2012, but his tenure was cut short after a major payment crisis erupted at National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL), which was also founded by the same promoters, in August last year.
Consequently, all nominees of the erstwhile promoter FTIL group, including Mr Javalgekar and group chairman Jignesh Shah, resigned from the board of MCX, while commodity market regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) declared in December last year that FTIL was no more a 'fit and proper' entity to hold 2 per cent or more stake in the exchange.
Recently, MCX's board had also decided that FTIL's voting rights would be capped at 2 per cent stake despite it continuing to hold a 26 per cent stake. The exchange's original promoters have challenged this decision.
While MCX's trading volumes have begun to pick up after some weakness in the aftermath of NSEL crisis, the exchange last week reported a 71 per cent plunge in its third quarter net profit to Rs 21.84 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2013.
This is the lowest quarterly profit for the exchange ever since it got listed in the market in March, 2012 and began making public its financial results.
While announcing results, Mr Vaish said that his focus would be on nurturing the bourse's strengths and transform it into a "professional and compliance-driven" organisation.
Before Joining MCX, Mr Vaish had served at BSE, NSDL, Deutsche Bank and ANZ Grindlays Bank.
According to his terms of appointment, he would get a salary of Rs 2.3 crore per annum with an annual increment of Rs 10 lakh every year, plus an annual variable bonus of up to 30 per cent, allotment of 10,000 ESOPs (convertible into an equal number of MCX shares) per annum, and other benefits.
MCX can terminate the appointment of Mr Vaish with prior approval of FMC by giving him three-month notice or payment of an equivalent salary amount. However, in case of any regulatory direction for his removal, no notice pay would be payable.
While MCX has already seen its board being recast in the aftermath of NSEL crisis, the exchange is also seeing many changes in its senior executive ranks ever since Mr Vaish's entry as he is said to be building his own team, sources said.
