India can thrive despite global flux: NSE CEO Ashish Chauhan

At a time when global headwinds, such as uncertainties wreaked by U.S. tariffs and foreign fund outflows, are taking a toll on domestic equity markets, National Stock Exchange (NSE) managing director and CEO Ashish Kumar Chauhan has expressed optimism, saying, “India can thrive even in uncertainty”.

Chauhan described current global conditions as a period of “flux,” with uncertainty heightened whenever new developments emerge. He cited the example of U.S. President Donald Trump, who began making tariff announcements, reversing and reintroducing them in quick succession, in late January.

“Currently, not many people are certain what will happen tomorrow. But whatever the case, India has stood firm because local demand for Indian shares is very high, and even foreigners have not been taking out money as they used to earlier,” said Chauhan while speaking at Fortune India’s 40under40 Awards in Mumbai on Saturday.

“Probably people have realised that India can actually thrive in even such uncertainties, and that’s what is going to go on for a very long period,” he said during a fireside chat titled ‘The Challenge of Public Markets’.

Chauhan termed the Covid-19 pandemic as one of the most challenging times in a century, noting that markets initially fell 40%, before recovering as the pandemic’s impact proved less severe than some predictions. “India did exceedingly well, and for me, that’s why the current situation is not that difficult to pass by,” he said.

Chauhan said India has witnessed a remarkable rise in retail investor participation and market capitalisation over the past 11 years, driven by the country’s expanding middle class. He said that in 2014, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office, India had just 1.67 crore unique investors and a market capitalisation of around ₹67 lakh crore.

“Today, we have 11.8 crore unique investors, almost 12 crore, which is seven to eight times more, and the market capitalisation has also gone to almost ₹450 lakh crore, which is again seven to eight times,” he added.

He attributed this growth to the “middle class framework” India is moving into, with around 20% of Indian households investing through the NSE. “They need to have some house, they need to have some bank balance, they need to have insurance, and then they come into the stock market. So effectively, India is becoming rapidly middle class,” he said.

When asked about the NSE listing plan, Chauhan said the exchange is awaiting a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), to go ahead with its initial public offering (IPO).

“We need to get a no-objection certificate even to prepare our draft red herring prospectus (DRHP),” he said, adding that after receiving the NOC from the regulator, it will take roughly eight to nine months to complete the IPO process.

“Once the NOC is received, the process becomes more procedural: it takes about 3-4 months to prepare the DRHP, after which we submit it to Sebi for approval. Sebi then takes another 3-4 months to review and respond. Overall, it’s roughly 8-9 months from the time the NOC is granted,” the NSE CEO said.

In March this year, the NSE reapplied for a fresh NOC from the Sebi, which would allow the exchange to take further steps towards listing its shares.