NSE may seek SEBI approval to trade its own shares on its platforms, sources say
Key Takeaways
- •NSE may seek SEBI approval to list and trade its shares on its own platforms, which would be the first self-listing by an Indian exchange.
- •The exchange is targeting a valuation of about ₹5.2–5.3 lakh crore, with the IPO potentially priced between ₹2,100 and ₹2,300 per share.
- •SEBI permitted self-listing in 2017 with conflict-of-interest safeguards, and global exchanges including Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange's owner already trade on their own markets.
- •NSE's 2016 draft IPO, which aimed to raise up to ₹10,000 crore, stalled amid the co-location probe that SEBI settled with the exchange in January 2024.
- •At the targeted valuation, NSE, which handles the bulk of India's equity trading, would be among India's most valuable listed financial-sector companies.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) may seek approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to trade its own shares on its own platforms, according to sources.
The exchange is targeting a valuation of around ₹5.2 lakh crore to ₹5.3 lakh crore, while the initial public offering could be priced in the range of ₹2,100 to ₹2,300 per share, the sources said.
The move would be a first for an Indian exchange. When rival BSE Ltd went public in 2017, its shares listed on NSE's platform rather than on its own, and SEBI only cleared the way for self-listing that year with a framework that includes safeguards against the conflict of interest that arises when an exchange oversees its own listing. Self-listing is common among global bourses — Nasdaq, the London Stock Exchange's parent, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, and Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, all trade on their own markets.
At the targeted valuation, NSE — which handles the bulk of India's equity trading and ranks among the world's largest derivatives exchanges by contracts traded — would count among India's most valuable listed financial-sector companies.
NSE's path to a listing has been long. The exchange filed draft IPO papers with SEBI in 2016, aiming to raise as much as ₹10,000 crore, but the offering stalled amid the regulator's probe into preferential access at its co-location server facility. SEBI settled that long-running case with NSE in January 2024, and listing plans have been revived since.
Key questions ahead include whether SEBI grants the self-listing approval and, in any draft prospectus, the offer's size, the shareholders selling stock and the intended timeline.
No further details were immediately available.
