The move comes in the wake of a change in guard at OTCEI following the decision of the promoter Unit Trust of India (UTI) to ask the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to prepare the revival package for OTCEI.

Apart from deputing one of its officials as the managing director, NSE has also placed a few of its officials especially from the systems department to help in revamping the systems of the exchange.

According to market sources, Shashi Nambiar and Sameen Farooqui, two top level officers have put in their papers. Among the officers who are leaving the exchange, these two are holding key positions and have been with the exchange right from the time of its inception. The rest belong to the officer level cadre and are from the systems department.

These two hadbeen extensively involved in the launch of the permitted segment on the exchange. Nambiar who was the head of the western region section was also in charge of the entire permitted segment while Farooqui was involved with the National Debt Segment (NDM) of the exchange.

And while the new OTCEI chief, Joseph Bosco, dismissed the exit of the officials as a routine development prompted by a better opportunity for those leaving the exchange, some dealers at the exchange have expressed sceptism.

"If at all the exchange is likely to turnaround it will take that much longer with more fresh people coming in and the experienced people leaving the organisation", said Nipun Mehta, a dealer on the exchange.

The exchange is however, recruiting some new personnel in the marketing department and for their back office operations. They have recruited around four-five people over the past few days.

As reported earlier by The Financial Express, the exchange is working on a detailed package for the revival of theexchange which has been languishing. This includes addition of more scrips to the permitted category and a complete revamp of the systems in place on par with those in existence at NSE.