MUMBAI: The National Stock Exchange board meeting on December 2 was meant to discuss the bourse’s listing plan, but in the end turned out to be far more eventful.As the day of the meeting drew closer, an agenda item was circulated among board members which gave many a jolt: discussion on the resignation of NSE ’s managing director Chitra Ramkrishna On the day of the meeting, the mood in the boardroom was sombre, though Ramkrishna appeared calm. As she reiterated her intention to quit citing personal reasons, some board members asked her to rethink the decision. Some others didn’t.Soon after the meeting ended, Ramkrishna bid adieu to the institution she had helped build from scratch. The exit came as a shock to many, but for some insiders it was expected, given the growing differences between Ramkrishna and some board members of NSE over various matters.ET spoke to several people —the capital markets regulator, a few board members, NSE shareholders and some insiders — to piece together the story behind Ramkrishna’s resignation. Most said pressure had been piling on her in the past few months over issues linked to NSE’s functioning.Ramkrishna did not respond to text messages seeking comments for this report.In response to an emailed query, an NSE spokesperson said, “She (Ramkrishna) resigned due to personal reasons. Linking her resignation to any other issues would be inappropriate. NSE management and the board respects her decisions and her contributions since its inception.”It all started with the finance ministry and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) receiving complaints from NSE shareholders over alleged ‘non-cooperation of the management’.Private equity investors were miffed over the delay in NSE’s listing and were grumbling that its share price had hardly moved despite a rise in profits.“Shareholders had expressed unhappiness over response of the exchange. As a regulator, we want that concerns raised by shareholders should be appropriately handled,” said a senior Sebi official. The episode prompted the capital markets regulator to take a relook at the composition of NSE’s board. Sebi felt new public interest directors (PIDs) on the board would ask more questions of the management.So, when some of the board members completed their term and came up for re-appointment, Sebi did not agree with the exchange’s candidates and asked it to propose new names.“We didn’t want a scenario where long-serving board members would become familiar with the management. Sebi’s view is that PIDs should be independent,” the Sebi official said.Some of the PIDs who have joined the NSE board in the past few months include Ashok Chawla, former finance secretary, Naved Masood, former secretary in the ministry of corporate affairs, TV Mohandas Pai, chairman of Manipal Global Education Services, Dinesh Kanabar, former deputy CEO of KPMG in India, and Dharmishta Raval, former Sebi executive director.A public interest director is similar to an independent director on the board of a company, who represents the interests of investors in the securities market. Sebi appoints PIDs on the boards of stock exchanges. The chairman of the board of a stock exchange has to be a PID.NSE shareholders said PIDs started questioning Ramkrishna-led management on issues such as a Sebi committee’s findings that the exchange gave unfair access to some brokers in high-frequency trading as well as concerns raised by investors over the delay in listing.FINAL STRAWSpeculation is rife that the issue which finally prompted Ramkrishna to move on was the exit in October of Subramanian Anand , NSE’s group operating officer, who was hired by her.Sebi had received complaints over Anand’s appointment at a high salary, said a board member. “We were asked to carry out an investigation into Anand’s appointment.Sebi raised this issue and NSE responded, but the regulator was not satisfied with the response,” said the board member. “While we were carrying out the investigation as per Sebi’s directions, he (Anand) resigned. How much of this weighed on her mind, I’m not sure.”Sebi was said to be uncomfortable with the high pay package Anand was drawing, given that he was not a key management personnel. Anand’s salary is not publicly available.Sources said the confluence of these events hurt Ramkrishna, and she was annoyed with the interference by board members.Some members, however, denied the board had overstepped its brief. “I’m not aware that she was uncomfortable with the questions the board had asked. We haven’t heard it from her. We are extremely conscious of not treading on the toes of the management,” said another board member. “There are questions which the board has to inherently ask. I don’t think we have gone out of line,” the person added.One board member said all attempts were made to stop Ramkrishna. “How do you keep a person who doesn’t want to stay back? We accepted her resignation. We are now focussed on getting a new CEO,” the person added.