The National Stock Exchange (NSE) is taking a significant step toward its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO) as the country’s top exchange is all set to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
The offering, believed to be one of the largest in India’s capital market history, is likely to be structured entirely as an offer for sale (OFS), with current shareholders planning to sell roughly 6% of the company.
As per reports, IPO size could be in the range of Rs 25,000-30,000 crore. NSE, which has around 1.8 lakh shareholders, is valued at over Rs 5 lakh crore in the unlisted market, according to market participants.
State-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is the single largest shareholder in NSE, holding a 10.72% stake. Top lender State Bank of India (SBI) and its subsidiary, SBI Capital Markets, together own around a 7.5% stake in the exchange.
Among foreign investors with significant holdings are Aranda Investments, a subsidiary of Temasek, and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).
The filing would mark a major milestone for NSE, whose listing plans had remained on hold for nearly a decade due to regulatory issues, including the co-location controversy.
The NSE made its first attempt to list in 2016, but was advised to withdraw the plan as regulatory probes gathered pace over co-location and dark fibre cases. The listing of the exchange even reached the Delhi High Court.
While approval from Sebi’s high-powered advisory committee on settlement was earlier seen as a prerequisite for granting a no-objection certificate, the regulator issued the NoC in January this year without waiting for a formal nod from this panel. This decision was taken amid prolonged delays and after key Sebi departments, in principle, agreed to settle the cases under the consent mechanism.
On June 20, 2025, the NSE had filed a settlement application with Sebi to resolve the co-location and other related cases by agreeing to pay around Rs 1,400 crore as settlement for the co-location and dark fibre cases.
In its latest financial disclosures released in November 2025, the NSE made a provision of Rs 1,297 crore, over and above the Rs 100 crore already deposited with Sebi in compliance with a SAT order passed in 2023.
Meanwhile, the NSE reported a sharp 37% plunge in net profit year-on-year at Rs 2,408 crore in the December 2025 quarter, while total income fell 9% to Rs 4,395 crore. On a sequential basis, net profit rose 15%, while total income grew 6%, the exchange said in a separate statement.
As part of its IPO preparations, NSE appointed 20 merchant bankers, besides legal advisers and other intermediaries, to manage the proposed public issue.
