SEBI gives green light to NSE’s Rs 30,000 crore IPO

SEBI has given the green light to NSE’s roughly Rs 30,000 crore IPO, issuing its observation letter on September 4.

The approval ends a decade-long delay caused by the co-location scandal, which had repeatedly held back the exchange’s public listing plans.

The offer-for-sale issue opens for subscription on September 15, with a BSE listing expected around September 24-25.

NSE will list on the rival BSE rather than its own platform, as exchange rules bar it from trading on itself.

The clearance came a day after the Supreme Court dismissed SEBI’s appeals against NSE in cases linked to the co-location data centre and dark-fibre matters.

Because exchange regulations prevent NSE from listing on its own trading platform, the exchange will debut on the rival Bombay Stock Exchange instead.

The IPO involves an offer of approximately 149 million equity shares, with the overall issue size estimated at around Rs 30,000 crore.

Life Insurance Corporation of India is expected to retain its stake in NSE through the listing, even as several other existing shareholders use the offering to cash out.

The IPO is set to rank among the largest public offerings in Indian stock market history once it completes, given the scale of the offer and NSE’s dominant position in domestic exchange trading.

NSE has long been the largest stock exchange in India by trading volume, making its public listing a closely watched event for both retail and institutional investors.

The approval clears a decade-long regulatory fight tied to the co-location scandal, which had repeatedly delayed the exchange’s plans to go public.

NSE eventually settled with SEBI, paying roughly Rs 1,491 crore, about $155 million, to resolve the matter and clear the path for the IPO.

India’s Supreme Court dismissed SEBI’s appeals against NSE in cases tied to the co-location data centre and dark-fibre matters on September 3, removing a major hurdle just a day before the observation letter was issued.

Photo of the NSE building, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0