India's National Stock Exchange (NSE) named Vikram Limaye, the CEO of infrastructure lender IDFC, as its new chief executive as the country's largest bourse gears up for a much-awaited initial public offering this year.

The appointment, which will have to be approved by the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and NSE's shareholders, is for five years, the exchange said in a statement.

The 50-year-old finance industry veteran faces a busy schedule as NSE has filed for an IPO that bankers say could happen towards the middle of the year and raise as much $1 billion, making it potentially India's biggest in six years.

Limaye will be the first head of NSE to come from outside the ranks of the exchange's founding team since it was set up in 1992.