The University Grants Commission (UGC), under the Ministry of Education, has appointed Ashish Kumar Chauhan, Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Sridhar Vembu, CEO of Zoho Corporation as members of the commission for three years, or till further orders.
Two other members appointed for the three-year term are Professor (retd) Sachidananda Mohanty, former Vice-Chancellor (VC), Central University of Odisha and Professor Shashikala Gulabrao Wanjari, VC, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi, the ministry said in its latest notification.
Who is Ashish Chauhan?
A mechanical engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay and alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta, Ashish Chauhan is considered one of the foremost experts in financial market policies.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in July 2022 appointed Ashish Chauhan as MD and CEO of NSE for five years.
He has been the founder-member of the NSE and this is his second stint with the exchange.
Ashish Chauhan earlier worked at BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) as CEO. Under his tenure, the BSE got listed in 2016.
The exchange saw many firsts and scaled new heights, while adopting cutting-edge technologies for seamless operations under his guidance.
For Quater Three of the Financial Year (FY)24, the NSE registered an eight per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,975 crore. During the first nine months of FY24, NSE contributed Rs 28,131 crore to the exchequer.
Currently, the NSE is waiting for a nod from the market regulator to initiate its initial public offering (IPO) process.
Who is Sridhar Vembu?
Meanwhile, Vembu is the Co-founder and CEO of Chennai-based Zoho Corporation.
The company has more than 15,000 employees globally. It is the parent company of technology brands like ManageEngine, Zoho.com, TrainerCentral, Zakya and Qntrl.
Vembu-led SaaS unicorn’s sales crossed the $1 billion mark in FY23.
The Zoho Co-founder was awarded the Padma Shri in 2021.
