National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) has scaled back its initial public offering (IPO) size after a clutch of key institutional shareholders, led by Morgan Stanley's investment vehicle, trimmed their planned stake sales, according to two people directly aware of the development.
The NSE IPO, reported to be India's biggest ever, initially planned to raise around ₹30,000 crore by selling a 6% stake (149 million shares). With the issue size now cut to about 5.1% stake (126.4 million shares), it is set to raise nearly ₹23,000 crore, making it smaller than the country's largest public listing—Hyundai Motor India's ₹27,000-crore debut in 2025.
The Economic Times reported on 4 September that the NSE plans to price its IPO at around ₹1,800 per share. Bloomberg News reported on 8 September that the total stake on offer was reduced to about 5.5% from the planned 6%.
Change of plans
Morgan Stanley’s investment vehicle, MS Strategic (Mauritius), which was originally the second-largest selling shareholder and had offered 16 million shares, is likely to have cut its stake sale by 5 million shares, Mint has learnt.
Other investors likely to have reduced their original stake sales include state-backed entities and global funds. State-run lenders Bank of Baroda and Indian Bank have likely cut their planned offerings to 7.69 million and 1.50 million shares, down from 10.99 million and 2.48 million, respectively.
Bank of Baroda and Indian Bank have also informed the stock exchanges of their plan to reduce the share sales.
National insurer General Insurance Corporation of India Ltd (GIC Re) and central record-keeping agency Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd are both said to have pared their planned sales to 6.19 million shares each, from more than 10 million shares each in the original draft prospectus.
State-run insurer National Insurance Co. Ltd also reduced its planned stake sale to 4 million shares from the 6 million originally proposed.
The reduction in the issue size reflects a broader reluctance among major institutional backers to sell larger stakes in the country’s primary market infrastructure institution, one of the two persons cited above said. “Reduction in stake sale after roadshows shows their confidence in the exchange's growth trajectory ahead of its public debut.”
Mint's queries emailed to NSE and the companies named above remain unanswered.
Twists and turns
NSE got the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi's) approval for its IPO on 4 September, and the exchange is likely to file its red herring prospectus with the registrar of companies later today, Mint has learnt.
This marks a full circle for the exchange's decade-long listing plan. NSE first filed its IPO papers in 2016, after which it was caught up in the co-location scandal and accused of giving select brokers unfair access to its servers. As the case dragged on, the IPO was shelved amid a leadership overhaul.
In January 2026, under new management, NSE reached a ₹1,300 crore settlement with Sebi and received the go-ahead to refile its papers.