By NSE’s IPO has been cleared by SEBI, with the roughly Rs 30,000 crore offer-for-sale issue set to open for subscription on September 15.
The regulator’s observation letter, issued on September 4, ends a delay of nearly a decade rooted in the co-location scandal.
The exchange is targeting a listing on the BSE around September 24-25, since it cannot list on its own trading platform.
The clearance follows the Supreme Court’s dismissal of SEBI’s appeals against NSE in the co-location data centre and dark-fibre cases on September 3.
NSE reportedly settled with SEBI by paying roughly Rs 1,491 crore to resolve the matter and pave the way for the IPO.
The fully offer-for-sale issue is set to open for subscription on September 15, with a listing on the BSE targeted for around September 24-25.
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.
Photo of the NSE building, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
