The National Stock Exchange (NSE) is moving ahead with preparations for its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO), with a top official saying merchant bankers are likely to be appointed this month.

"We are in the midst of finalising merchant bankers for the issue (NSE IPO). It will take about two weeks time from here," Ashish Kumar Chauhan, MD and CEO of NSE, told Fortune India on the sidelines of an event to celebrate 30 years of the Nifty50 launch.

"The listing is very much on track," he said, but declined to place an exact timeline.

Early last month, the board of the NSE approved its listing plan after receiving a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

The board cleared the IPO to be carried out through a pure offer-for-sale (OFS) by existing shareholders. The proposed issue will involve the listing of NSE’s equity shares of face value ₹1 each on one or more recognised Indian stock exchanges, subject to regulatory approvals, market conditions and other relevant factors, the exchange said in a statement.

However, NSE did not disclose the number of shares to be offered in the OFS or identify the shareholders who may dilute their stakes. The exchange is owned by a mix of domestic and global financial institutions, insurance companies and individual investors, with no single entity holding a controlling stake.

Trading members, along with their associates and agents, collectively hold about 35.51% of NSE’s shares. Major domestic institutional investors include the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) with 10.7%, Stock Holding Corporation of India (SHCIL) with 4.4%, SBI Capital Markets with 4.33%, and State Bank of India with 3.23%. Other notable shareholders include General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC), The New India Assurance Company, and National Insurance Company.

Foreign investors also hold meaningful stakes, including Aranda Investments (Temasek), Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Morgan Stanley (MS Strategic Mauritius), and Crown Capital.

The board has also approved the reconstitution of the IPO committee to oversee and facilitate the listing process. The committee will be chaired by non-independent director Tablesh Pandey and will include public interest directors Srinivas Injeti, Mamata Biswal, Abhilasha Kumari, and G Sivakumar, along with NSE MD and CEO Ashish Kumar Chauhan.

In the last week of January, NSE received its long-awaited NOC from Sebi for the proposed IPO. The exchange had reapplied for the approval in June last year in an effort to revive its listing plans.

The IPO has been closely watched after NSE’s earlier attempt in 2016 was shelved following the co-location controversy. At the time, the exchange had filed its draft papers with Sebi, reportedly seeking to raise around ₹10,000 crore through an offer-for-sale of about 23% by existing shareholders. These included investors such as Tiger Global Management, Aranda Investments, Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners), Norwest Venture Partners, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and State Bank of India.