G K Pillai resigns as MCX-SX chairman

• GK Pillai resigned as Chairman of MCX-SX on 14 March 2014. 
• Consequently, current Vice Chairman and former LIC Chairman, Thomas Mathew T was elected as new Chairman and Ashima Goyal was elected as Vice Chairperson by the Board members.  
• The exchange also announced that MCX and FTIL had been reclassified as Public Shareholder from Promoter Shareholder.
• Incidentally, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) began its probe on 13 March 2014 against the stock exchange’s founder Jignesh Shah and former Chairman of SEBI C.B. Bhave. 
• The probe will also investigate the alleged irregularities in the sanctioning of MCX-SX along with the subsequent recognition renewals of exchange in 2009, 2010. 
• Former Home Secretary, GK Pillai was appointed as Chairman of MCX-SX following the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) scam. 
• During his tenure, a new board, Managing Director and CEO were appointed. 
• He played a pivotal role in bringing stability by renegotiating contracts, rationalizing costs and other similar measures.
• "It was a wonderful experience to work with the team and I am stepping down due to personal reasons," said an exchange press release, quoting Pillai.

MCX-SX: UPS & DOWNS

2008 Oct: MCX-SX starts operations in the currency derivatives segment Between 2009 and 2012: Legal battle between MCX-SX and Sebi due to the latter’s refusal to grant approval for trading in equities 2012 Jul: Sebi allows MCX-SX to start equity operations, asks promoters to cut stake in 18 months 2013 Feb: MCX-SX starts trading in equities, including cash and F&O Sep: Sebi renews MCX SX recognition; asks it to set up oversight committee Oct: Vice-Chairman Jignesh Shah and MD & CEO Joseph Massey resign Nov: G K Pillai made chairman & Thomas Mathew vice-chairman Dec: Sebi issues fit-&-proper showcause notice to FTIL 2014 Jan: MCX-SX board announces rights issue & audit of exchange from inception Feb: Appoints Saurabh Sarkar as CEO and MD Mar: Pillai resigns; Mathew appointed chairman