India’s largest stock exchange, the National Stock Exchange (NSE), is set to list on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) after nearly a decade of awaiting regulatory approvals.
The filing marks a major milestone for NSE, whose listing plans had been stalled for nearly a decade due to regulatory hurdles, including the co-location controversy.
The company’s proposed initial public offering (IPO) will be entirely an offer for sale (OFS), with no fresh issue of shares. The issue is reportedly expected to raise around ₹30,000 crore, making it one of the largest IPOs in India’s capital market history.
According to the draft papers, the selling shareholders will collectively offload 14.89 crore equity shares. State Bank of India (SBI) is the largest seller, proposing to divest 2.4 crore shares. MS Strategic (Mauritius) Ltd, a special-purpose investment vehicle of Morgan Stanley, will sell 1.6 crore shares.
Among public sector insurers, New India Assurance, General Insurance Corporation of India and National Insurance Company will together offload more than 3.3 crore shares. Bank of Baroda is another major shareholder participating in the offer, with plans to sell over 1.09 crore shares.
Other key sellers include Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd (1.09 crore shares), General Insurance Corporation of India (1.07 crore shares), The New India Assurance Company (1.05 crore shares), National Insurance Company (0.60 crore shares) and United India Insurance Company (0.60 crore shares).
The State Bank of India (SBI) has a 3.23% stake in the NSE, and its subsidiary, SBI Capital Markets, holds a 4.33% stake in the exchange.
Stock Holding Corporation of India owns a 4.44% stake.
According to people familiar with the matter, the IPO size could be around ₹30,000 crore, implying a market capitalisation of over ₹5 lakh crore.
\NSE has around 1.8 lakh shareholders.
This long-awaited public offering will surpass the previous record held by Hyundai Motor India’s ₹27,870 crore issue launched in October 2024.
The filing comes after NSE’s board approved the proposed IPO on February 6 following receipt of Sebi’s no-objection certificate (NOC).
NSE had first filed draft offer documents in 2016 to raise around ₹10,000 crore through an OFS by existing shareholders. However, Sebi withheld approval amid concerns related to governance lapses and the co-location case.
Since then, the exchange has made multiple representations to the regulator seeking clearance and has undertaken various governance and compliance measures.
As part of its IPO preparations, NSE appointed 20 merchant bankers, besides legal advisors and other intermediaries, to manage the proposed public issue.
In January, Sebi Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said that the regulator had granted “in-principle” approval to NSE’s settlement application in the unfair market access case, a move widely seen as clearing a key hurdle for the IPO.
NSE had filed its settlement application in June 2025 in connection with the co-location case, in which certain brokers were accused of receiving preferential access to the exchange’s trading systems.
After years of litigation, the exchange in 2025 offered to pay ₹1,388 crore to settle the matter and move forward with its long-pending listing plans.
On the financial front, NSE reported a 15% decline in profit after tax to ₹10,302 crore in FY26, down from ₹12,188 crore in FY25. Also, the total income stood at ₹18,713 crore, marginally lower than ₹19,177 crore in the preceding fiscal.
In the March quarter of FY26, NSE reported an 8% rise in PAT to ₹2,871 crore from ₹2,650 crore in the year-ago quarter (Q4FY25). Its total income during the quarter increased 22% to ₹5,360 crore compared to ₹4,397 crore in the same period a year ago.
(with inputs from PTI)
Published – June 18, 2026 09:19 am IST
