NSE IPO: Existing shareholders trimmed stake sale ahead of IPO, says Chauhan

NSE’s press conference has concluded, with management outlining the exchange’s three-decade technology and innovation journey, dominant market position, diversified business opportunities and long-term growth prospects ahead of its much-awaited IPO.

NSE MD & CEO Ashish Chauhan defended the exchange’s IPO pricing process, saying management relied on its merchant bankers and advisers, while clarifying that NSE has not applied to SEBI to allow its own shares to trade on the exchange.

Management also sought to address concerns around NSE’s dependence on derivatives, saying the share of transaction-charge revenue has declined over the past five years, while data, connectivity, indices, commodities, EGRs, ETFs and the SIF ecosystem offer potential avenues for diversification.

The IPO will open for subscription on September 17 and close on September 21, with a price band of ₹1,700–₹1,785 per share. The issue comprises an OFS of up to 12.64 crore shares by existing shareholders.

With the press conference now concluded, this live blog will also be closed. Thank you for staying with us.

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Morgan Stanley India managing director and co-head of investment banking Sachin Wagle called NSE’s public listing a “remarkable moment” for the exchange and India’s capital markets. He said millions of investors and traders who participate in the market will now have an opportunity to own a stake in the institution through the IPO.

“Most of India trades on this market, and they will now get a chance to own a sliver.”

NSE management said India's gold market could potentially grow into a few-trillion-dollar market, with silver and other commodities also benefiting as new financial products gain traction. The exchange sees EGRs as one of its key innovations to tap into this opportunity.

NSE said India's ETF industry remains relatively small and could expand substantially, creating another potential growth avenue for the exchange. It also pointed to the potential expansion of gold, silver and other commodity markets as longer-term opportunities.

NSE management said SEBI's Specialised Investment Fund (SIF) framework could help bring more retail participation into equity derivatives through a fund structure. The exchange believes this could be a more suitable way for retail investors to access derivatives while managing risk.

“It’s always better to channelise them through a fund framework like SIF.”

NSE said Electronic Gold Receipts could both address structural issues in India's gold market and create a new revenue stream for the exchange. The product is aimed at making gold trading easier while reducing concerns around purity, authenticity and physical storage.

“If EGR becomes a successful product... we have also in a way helped in creating a new kind of revenue stream which was non-existent up until now.”

NSE CFO Ian De Souza said options accounted for 60% of operating revenue in FY26, with weekly index options contributing 46%, monthly index options 6% and single-stock options 8%. Futures and cash equities contributed another 9% each, while data accounted for 12% and other operating revenue made up the balance.

NSE CFO Ian De Souza said the exchange's dependence on weekly index options is lower than often perceived. He said weekly index options contributed 46% of operating revenue in FY26, while monthly index options accounted for 6% and single-stock options for 8%.

He said NSE has close to 100% market share in monthly options and single-stock options, providing diversification within its options business.

NSE CFO Ian De Souza said the exchange's dependence on transaction charges has declined over the past five years, with their contribution to revenue falling to 70% from 79%. He said newer businesses such as data, connectivity and indices now account for around 11% of revenue and are growing rapidly, helping diversify NSE's revenue base.

Chauhan said the market has historically pushed back against several regulatory measures introduced by Sebi, but some of those changes ultimately helped attract more participants by making markets safer. He said NSE, as a market infrastructure institution, would continue to comply with Sebi's regulations.

Chauhan said NSE has no promoter and is fully owned by public shareholders. He said the exchange would eventually have 100% public float after the applicable post-listing period, subject to regulatory requirements.

“NSE is a fully owned by public.”

Chauhan said NSE does not have a promoter and the IPO is entirely an offer for sale by existing shareholders. He said the exchange needed to secure enough shares from selling shareholders to meet the applicable public-shareholding requirement, following which it proceeded with the revised offer structure.

The final OFS comprises up to 12.64 crore shares, down from 14.89 crore shares proposed earlier.

Responding to questions around the impact of regulatory measures and the new settlement mechanism on market volumes, Chauhan said SEBI has introduced several measures over NSE's history that were initially viewed negatively by the industry but eventually helped improve investor confidence and participation.

He said NSE, as a market infrastructure institution and frontline regulator, would continue to comply with SEBI's measures.

“We being frontline regulators will want to continue to abide by whatever SEBI wants.”

Chauhan said NSE has not made any application to SEBI seeking permission for its own shares to be traded on the NSE platform after listing. He said the exchange's merchant bankers have been advising it on the matter and indicated that there is no immediate application in this regard.

“NSE has not made any application to SEBI for allowing its shares to be traded.”

For context, NSE has previously said it would not self-list on its own platform, with Chauhan stating that regulations prevent an exchange from doing so.

NSE MD & CEO Ashish Chauhan said the exchange relied on its 20 merchant bankers and advisers to determine the IPO pricing, stressing that NSE management itself is not involved in deciding the valuation of the stock. He said the exchange went by the advice of its appointed experts.

“We are not that expert in pricing of stocks. We go by whatever advice we get by our experts who advise us.”

Krishnan highlighted NSE’s presence across equities, equity derivatives, fixed income, interest rates, currencies and commodities, along with mutual funds, ETFs, REITs, InvITs and other products. He said NSE offers a broad spectrum of asset classes with liquidity across the platform.

He added NSE sees significant potential in commodities as it builds liquidity in the segment. He highlighted recent growth in crude oil and natural gas contracts, saying the exchange is seeing increasing traction in its commodity products.

Krishnan said NSE’s crude oil options premium turnover crossed ₹3,000 crore on Thursday, calling it a new high for the exchange. He said the product had been close to zero in terms of premium turnover around eight months ago, highlighting the rapid build-up in commodity derivatives activity.

Krishnan said NSE’s cash-market share has remained in the 93%-95% range over the past three decades. NSE’s FY26 cash-market share was 92.99%, according to data cited in current market research.

He added NSE has a dominant position across several derivatives segments, with almost 100% market share in single-stock futures and options, interest-rate futures and currency derivatives. He said NSE’s index-options share is around 70%-73%. FY26 data put NSE’s index-options share at about 72% and index-futures share at nearly 99%.

NSE chief business development officer Sriram Krishnan said the exchange remains the clear market leader in India and is among the largest exchanges globally. NSE says it was the world’s largest multi-asset exchange by number of trades in cash equities and contracts traded in equity derivatives in FY26.

NSE chief business development officer Sriram Krishnan said innovation has been central to the exchange’s evolution over the past 32 years, beginning with screen-based trading and real-time risk management. He highlighted NSE’s expansion into derivatives, SME listings, mutual funds, electricity futures and Electronic Gold Receipts as examples of its innovation-led approach.

Chauhan recalled that NSE recorded around 700 trades on its first day of equity-market operations in November 1994. Today, he said, the exchange can handle around 30 crore trades on a good day, underscoring the scale of its growth over three decades.

Chauhan said NSE handles around 2,200 crore orders on a good trading day, highlighting the scale of its technology infrastructure. He said this volume is handled within the exchange’s regular 9:15 am to 3:30 pm equity-market trading session.

Chauhan said NSE’s technology infrastructure can deliver response times of around 500–800 nanoseconds, highlighting the exchange’s stress on speed and scalability.

Chauhan said NSE’s trading technology has a capacity of around 50 lakh orders per second, or 5 million orders per second. NSE’s own annual report has previously stated that its trading platform was enhanced to process approximately 5 million-plus orders per second.

NSE MD & CEO Ashish Kumar Chauhan highlighted NSE’s track record of innovation, including automated trading, real-time risk management, clearing infrastructure, dematerialisation and faster settlement cycles. He said NSE moved from longer settlement cycles to T+1, following successive reductions in settlement timelines.

Chauhan highlighted NSE’s nationwide investor reach, saying the exchange has investors across virtually every PIN code in India. NSE previously reported that all but 30 PIN codes had investors registered with the exchange, representing 99.84% coverage.

Chauhan said NSE now has more than 13 crore unique investors, reflecting the rapid expansion of retail participation in India’s capital markets. NSE itself confirmed in April that its registered investor base had crossed 13 crore unique investors/unique PANs, while the number of client codes stood at 25.7 crore.

Chauhan highlighted NSE’s presence across multiple asset classes, including equities, currencies, commodities, interest rates and electricity, as well as its social stock exchange. He said this breadth differentiates NSE from exchanges that specialise in a smaller number of asset classes.

NSE MD & CEO highlighted NSE’s vertically integrated, multi-asset-class model, saying the exchange owns its technology infrastructure across the trading ecosystem. He said this allows NSE to introduce new instruments and settlement mechanisms without having to make significant additional technology investments.

NSE MD & CEO Ashish Chauhan said India is now the fourth-largest equity market globally by market capitalisation, behind the US, China and Japan. He noted that India’s ranking is based on the overall market capitalisation of its listed companies, while NSE’s daily trading activity is among the largest globally.

NSE MD & CEO Ashish Chauhan said the exchange has set a price band of ₹1,700-₹1,785 per share for its IPO. He said NSE is a vertically integrated, multi-asset-class exchange that owns its technology stack and has more than 13 crore unique investors. Chauhan also highlighted NSE’s market capitalisation of over ₹5.1 trillion as a testament to the vision behind the exchange.

NSE MD & CEO Ashish Chauhan said NSE's founding team envisioned an automated exchange capable of matching orders electronically, despite India's limited technology infrastructure in the early 1990s. He described the exchange's technology-led model as one of its defining features.

And this is a particularly strong line for the live blog:

“Some people visualized that there will be an automated exchange which will match orders on screen.”

NSE MD & CEO Ashish Chauhan recalled how NSE was conceived as an automated, screen-based exchange at a time when India had limited telephone connectivity and computing infrastructure. He said the exchange was designed without a traditional trading floor, marking a fundamental departure from the way stock exchanges operated at the time.

“There was no floor in the exchange.”

“In some ways, this is a purely automated exchange of that time.”

NSE MD & CEO Ashish Chauhan began his address by remembering S.S. Nadkarni, the exchange’s founding chairman, and Dr. R.H. Patil, its founding managing director, crediting them as pioneers and visionaries who helped establish NSE.

“Let me first recall and remember the founders of NSE at this juncture.”

“Both have been pioneers and also visionaries under whose guidance and leadership NSE was set up and has continued till now.”

NSE's unique investor base has grown to 132 million as of June 2026, up from 20 million in 2016, Shanti Ekambaram said, stressing the exchange's expanding reach among Indian investors.

“NSE has consistently stood as the largest stock exchange” since its inception in 1992, Shanti Ekambaram said, highlighting its leadership across cash equities and equity derivatives.

Shanti Ekambaram, director, Kotak Investment Banking, said the NSE IPO will open for subscription on September 17 and close on September 21. “NSE has democratised access to India’s financial markets. We at Kotak are proud to be the BRLMs for NSE IPO,” she said.

“It’s so historic, it’s perhaps worth repeating,” Shanti Akambaram, director, Kotak Investment Banking, said while welcoming the media at the NSE IPO press meet. She highlighted the exchange’s three-decade journey and its growing investor base.

NSE’s press conference has begun, with MD and CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan expected to address the media shortly on the exchange’s IPO and its business outlook.

Zerodha co-founder Nithin Kamath had earlier shared a detailed analysis of the exchange's business model, describing it as a rare "cash generation and distribution machine" in India's corporate landscape.

In a post on X, Kamath highlighted NSE's extraordinary profitability and dividend-paying ability, noting that the exchange generated more than ₹10,300 crore in profit during FY26 and distributed around ₹8,660 crore as dividends, translating into a payout ratio of 84%.

"NSE is a cash generation and distribution machine," Kamath wrote, adding that such high payouts are likely to continue even after the exchange goes public.

Read more: https://www.fortuneindia.com/markets/ipo/nithin-kamath-explains-why-ipo-bound-nse-is-a-rare-cash-generation-and-distribution-machine/144227

BSE’s explosive growth in equity derivatives is facing a reality check, with regulatory changes, lower market volatility and a high base expected to substantially moderate options volumes, according to brokerage reports.

Bernstein, which initiated coverage of Indian exchanges on September 8, said equity-options volumes could grow just 5% in FY27, sharply below the 31% YoY growth recorded in Q1FY27. The brokerage attributed the slowdown to lower India VIX, the CAS introduced from August 1, tighter RBI leverage norms and a high base.

The impact of CAS has already become visible. Bernstein found that during the August 1-28 period, BSE’s options premium average daily turnover fell 22%, compared with a 14% decline at NSE. BSE also saw contracts traded decline 30%, against a 7% fall at NSE.

Read more: https://www.fortuneindia.com/markets/bse-growth-faces-fresh-reality-check-as-cas-low-vix-squeeze-options-volumes-mcx-bucks-trend/158708

The Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) approval for the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) long-awaited initial public offering (IPO) has put the spotlight on companies that are set to monetise part of their holdings in the exchange.

Shares of key selling shareholders, including State Bank of India (SBI), IFCI, General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re) and Bank of Baroda, remained in focus on Monday, September 7, as investors assessed the potential impact of the IPO on their holdings.

Read more: https://www.fortuneindia.com/markets/nse-ipo-how-sbi-ifci-gic-re-bank-of-baroda-shares-reacted-after-sebi-approval/157767

The IPO party is showing little sign of cooling off in the grey market, even as the secondary market came under heavy selling pressure on Friday, with the much-awaited National Stock Exchange (NSE) IPO emerging as the biggest draw.

NSE's IPO, which opens for subscription on September 17, is commanding a ₹190 grey market premium (GMP) over its upper price band of ₹1,785, according to data from the InvestorGain. This implies an estimated listing price of around ₹1,975, or a 10.64% premium to the issue price.

Read more: https://www.fortuneindia.com/markets/nse-ipo-gmp-karamtara-steamhouse-arcil-grey-market-stays-hot-as-stocks-bleed/158672

NSE managing director and CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan will hold a press conference in the afternoon today on the upcoming IPO of the exchange. Chauhan will be accompanied by other senior members of the NSE management.

The highly anticipated IPO is likely to hit Dalal Street on September 17 and close on September 21, with the exchange targeting a listing around September 25, industry sources told Fortune India.

The country’s largest exchange filed its updated draft red herring prospectus (UDRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Wednesday. The exchange received Sebi’s green signal for the IPO on September 4, after filing its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the regulator in June.

Read more: https://www.fortuneindia.com/markets/ipo/nse-md-and-ceo-ashish-chauhan-to-hold-a-press-conference-today-on-exchanges-upcoming-ipo/158669

The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) will launch its much-awaited IPO on September 17, giving investors an opportunity to participate in the public listing of the country’s largest stock exchange. The bidding window will remain open until September 21, while NSE shares are expected to make its stock-market debut on the BSE on September 24.

The exchange has fixed price band at ₹1,700-1,785 apiece, looking to raise ₹22,561.5 crore at the upper end of the price range, putting NSE’s implied valuation at about ₹4.42 lakh crore.

Read more: https://www.fortuneindia.com/markets/ipo/nse-ipo-issue-size-cut-15-to-22562-crore-price-band-fixed-at-1700-1785/158654

NSE management is set to address the media ahead of its ₹22,000-crore-plus IPO, with investors watching closely for commentary on valuation, derivatives growth, regulation, competition and the exchange's future growth strategy.

Stay tuned for Fortune India to catch all the LIVE updates.