MUMBAI: The nation’s largest stock exchange National Stock Exchange (NSE) has moved a step closer to its mega IPO that has been in the making for a little over a decade now, shortlisting as many as 20 investment banks and eight law firms among other market intermediaries.
In a statement issued Thursday, the NSE, which is the world’s largest derivatives exchange by trading volume and also the world’s third largest equities exchange, said its IPO committee has selected 20 merchant bankers -- the largest i-bankers syndicate so far -- for an IPO. The ICICI Prudential MAC’s recent issue had the largest till now with 18 in the list.
The 20 i-bankers are Axis Capital, IIFL Capital, JM Financial, Kotak Mahindra Capital, Motilal Oswal, ICICI Securities, SBI Capital, Nuvama Wealth, HDFC Bank, Avendus Capital, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, JP Morgan, HSBC Securities, IDBI Capital, 360 One Wam, Anand Rathi, DAM Capital, Pantomath Capital, and Equirus Capital.
The eight law firms selected include Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co, Latham & Watkins, Sidley Austin Singapore, AZB & Partners, S&R Associates, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, and Trilegal.
The bourse has also selected other intermediaries such as MUFG Intime India, Makarand M Joshi & Company, Manian & Rao, RBSA Advisors, and Redseer Strategy Consultants.
“The selected intermediaries will support NSE across various aspects of the proposed offering, including regulatory filings, due diligence, documentation, marketing and execution, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations,” the NSE said.
Meanwhile, the grey market price of the NSE’s unlisted shares has fallen, reflecting the steep correction in the broader market. From the peak of Rs 2,400 a share, it has fallen to Rs 1970, valuing the company at Rs 4.87 trillion.
A key operational challenge could be the NSE’s swelling shareholder base of 1.91 lakh, which is the largest among unlisted companies. The number of shareholders sharply rose from around 5,000 in December 2023 to 20,500 in December 2024, and nearly 1.84 lakh by December 2025 who collectively own a little more than 12.3% of the exchange.
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.
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.
The colocation case, currently pending before the Supreme Court, pertains to allegations that certain brokers received preferential access to the NSE’s trading servers between 2015 and 2016.
In January 2023, SAT upheld non-monetary penalties against the NSE but set aside the disgorgement order, instead imposing a fine of about Rs 100 crore for lapses in due diligence. Later that year, the Supreme Court directed Sebi to refund around Rs 300 crore to the NSE in connection with the matter.
The much-delayed IPO process got a boost on January 30 when the regulator Sebi gave its no-objection certificate to the exchange to go ahead. Following this, an NSE board meeting on February 6 gave the formal nod for the IPO via an offer for sale by existing shareholders offloading 4.5% of their holding through the OFS which may top Rs 23,000 crore.
LIC, SBI and Singapore’s Temasek are among the leading institutional shareholders.
Later on February 26, the NSE had floated a request for proposal and invited multiple investment banks and law firms for IPO pitches, with a decision on the final set of advisors likely by mid-March.
A week later, the IPO panel selected Rothschild as an independent advisor to oversee the IPO process, after meeting various agencies based on technical and commercial proposals.
The re-constituted IPO committee includes Tablesh Pandey (chairperson of NSE), with members Srinivas Injeti, Mamata Biswal, Abhilasha Kumari, G Sivakumar and Ashishkumar Chauhan, who is also the managing director and chief executive of the exchange.
The NSE started operations in 1994 as the country’s first electronic stock exchange. It provides a high-speed, technology-led platform across asset classes like equities, debt, commodities, currencies and their derivatives, and exchange traded funds.
According to its annual report for fiscal 2025, the NSE had 11.3 crore unique registered investors (up by 23%) and around 22 crore investor accounts, with 2,720 companies listed on its platform. In terms of consolidated financials, total revenue stood at Rs 19,177 crore (up 17%) and profit after tax was Rs 12,188 crore (up 47%).
For the December 2025 quarter, the NSE reported a sharp 37% plunge in net income at Rs 2,408 crore, 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. The operating margin declined 16% to Rs 2,851 crore.
On a consolidated basis, net profit declined to Rs 2,098 crore in the second quarter of this fiscal, sharply lower than Rs 3,137 crore a year earlier, primarily due to one-time provisioning related to settlement applications filed with Sebi. Consolidated revenue from operations declined nearly 18% to Rs 3,676.8 crore. Revenue from transaction charges fell 22% to Rs 2,785 crore, reflecting lower volumes across both cash and derivatives segments.
"FY25 marked a historic high in the domestic capital market journey, with the NSE playing a pivotal role in enabling enterprise and empowering entrepreneurship across the issuer spectrum. The NSE facilitated a record 18.7 trillion in capital mobilisation, comprising 14.2 trillion in the debt segment, a 24% on-year growth, and 4.26 trillion in the equities,” Chauhan said in the 2025 annual report.