Ashish Chauhan says 'fully committed' to NSE, ongoing IPO and listing process; denies Tata Sons top job buzz

New Delhi: NSE Managing Director and CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan has denied reports that he is being considered for the position of Tata Sons Chairman, saying he remains "fully committed" to his responsibilities at the exchange and its ongoing IPO and listing process.

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The National Stock Exchange (NSE), in a clarification on Sunday, said media reports and market rumours suggesting that Chauhan is under consideration for the Tata Sons chairman's position "are not based on any information available with the exchange".

"Chauhan has categorically denied such reports and confirmed that they are speculative and factually incorrect," NSE said.

According to the exchange, Chauhan has confirmed that "he remains fully committed to his responsibilities at NSE and to the ongoing IPO and listing process of the Company".

The clarification came in reference to a report titled "Tata Sons succession race narrows to Narendran, Agarwal; Chauhan emerges as dark horse" dated September 5.

People familiar with the matter told PTI that Tata Sons, the holding company of the USD 275-billion-plus Tata conglomerate, has narrowed its search for a successor to Chairman N Chandrasekaran to three prominent corporate leaders -- Tata Steel CEO and MD T V Narendran, Tata Sons Executive Director and Group CFO Saurabh Agrawal, and NSE MD and CEO Ashish Chauhan.

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While Narendran has emerged as the frontrunner among internal candidates, Agrawal is also in the reckoning with his investment-banking and capital-allocation experience, while Chauhan, a veteran of India's capital markets and one of the founding executives of the National Stock Exchange, could turn out to be the dark horse, the people said.

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