The shares of Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited are under pressure at about 4 percent the day after the commodity exchange said in a filing that its Chief Technology Officer Shashank Sathe had resigned.

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In the filing, the exchange said Sathe had resigned due to "personal reasons and for better prospects". The exit of the CTO has spooked investors because the company was in the middle of implementing a new platform which was supposed to be provided by TCS.

In the interim, the company's Chief Digital Officer N Rajendran will look after the portfolio of the CTO. The company said Rajendran has been with the company since November 2021. Prior to joining MCX, he worked as a CEO and Director of Indian Financial Technology & Allied Services (RBI subsidiary) and as a CTO of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

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The company had been renewing the software services contract they have with the current vendor 63Moons. But that contract expires in June 2023.

The main concern for MCX is regarding the implementation of the new tech platform by TCS. MCX was supposed to switch to TCS as a software service provider last year, but that did not happen and they extended the current contract with 63 Moons Technologies till June of 2023.

Additionally, the software support expense for Q3FY23 ballooned three times at Rs 68 crore as compared to Rs 22 crore in the previous quarter. And, this escalated software cost is expected to last for another two quarters as per analysts.

During MCX's Q3FY23 conference call before the CTO's exit, the management team tried to allay fears and seemed confident about launching a new platform in Q1FY24. They also revealed that more mock sessions were planned in the near term. While these announcements did provide some reassurance, it remains to be seen how the company will fare in the coming quarters.

Shares of MCX are trading 7.24 percent lower at Rs 1,379.95.

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