NSE clears final Sebi hurdle for long-awaited IPO

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has approved the initial public offering (IPO) of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE), clearing the way for the bourse to begin the final steps for its long-awaited listing in the stock market.

The markets regulator issued its observation to the exchange's potential ₹30,000 crore offer in the week ending 4 September, a notification on the Sebi website showed on Friday.

The NSE IPO clearance follows Sebi's approval of Jio Platforms Ltd's potential ₹35,000 crore IPO last week, thus paving the way for back-to-back listings of two of the country's biggest offerings so far.

Mint had reported on 14 August that the Ashish Chauhan-led firm was targeting a mid-September IPO launch, with a listing planned by the end of the month.

A Mint report from 18 August had added that the exchange was likely to price its shares at over ₹2,000 per share, taking the company's valuation to over ₹5 trillion.

Offer entirely for sale

NSE's transaction is structured entirely as an offer for sale of 148.9 million equity shares, representing 6% of the company's paid-up equity capital.

Proceeds from the transaction will go entirely to the selling shareholders, which include State Bank of India, SBI Capital Markets Ltd, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Bank of Baroda, Stock Holding Corp. of India, General Insurance Corp of India, The New India Assurance Co., National Insurance Co. and United India Insurance Co. and affiliates of Morgan Stanley and Temasek.

The exchange will receive no proceeds from the offering.

The Sebi approval 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.

Current regulatory frameworks require the exchange to maintain a diversified shareholding structure. No single foreign or domestic entity is permitted to hold more than 5% of an exchange's equity capital without explicit regulatory approval, while specific institutional categories, such as commercial banks and insurance companies, may hold up to 15%.