NEW DELHI, Jan 30: Capital market regulator Sebi has granted a no-objection certificate to the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to move ahead with its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO), after a decade of delays caused by regulatory concerns and co-location controversy, a top exchange official said on Friday.
The listing plans of the country’s largest bourse, NSE, were on hold since 2016, when the exchange first filed draft offer documents to raise around Rs 10,000 crore through an offer for sale by existing shareholders. Sebi withheld approval due to regulatory concerns arising from governance lapses and the co-location case. Since then, NSE has approached the regulator multiple times to seek clearance.
On Sebi’s clearance, NSE Chairperson Srinivas Injeti said the watchdog’s approval for the exchange’s IPO marked a significant milestone in its growth journey.
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“With Sebi’s approval, we embark on a new chapter of value creation for all our stakeholders. This approval also reinforces confidence in NSE being an integral part of the Indian economy and a beacon of Indian capital markets,” he added.
Earlier this month, Sebi chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said the regulator had granted “in-principle” approval to NSE’s settlement application in the unfair market access case, an important development seen as paving the way for the exchange’s IPO.
Pandey had also indicated that the no-objection certificate could be issued within about a month. NSE filed its settlement plea in June 2025.
The exchange’s IPO plans were stalled due to the co-location case, in which certain brokers were accused of receiving preferential access to the exchange’s trading systems.
After years of litigation, NSE in 2025 offered to pay Rs 1,388 crore to settle the charges and move ahead with the listing process.
The proposed IPO is expected to be among the largest in India’s capital markets.
NSE, which has about 1.77 lakh shareholders, is valued at over Rs 5 lakh crore in the unlisted grey market, according to market analysts.
NSE managing director and chief executive Ashish Kumar Chauhan had earlier described the in-principle approval as a positive signal, though he said no formal communication had been received at the time.
“Once we receive the NOC, we will follow the conditions mentioned in the intimation and begin preparations for filing the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP),” Chauhan had told PTI Videos.
He had stated that it could take up to four months after receiving Sebi’s NOC to file the DRHP, which would then require regulatory clearance.
The IPO itself could hit the markets around seven to eight months after the NOC, he had stated.
In March 2025, Sebi had constituted an internal committee to examine NSE’s listing proposal. (PTI)
