Quarterly Unlisted Shares Performance Report (April-June 2026)

Overview

The April to June 2026 quarter was another busy period for India's unlisted (pre-IPO) share market. This is the over-the-counter space where investors trade shares in companies that have not yet listed on the NSE or BSE. Trading continues to take place off-exchange through intermediaries and platforms, with settlement handled via NSDL and CDSL demat accounts. Interest during the quarter focused on a familiar set of companies: market infrastructure players, late-stage consumer startups, and some financial services firms. Sentiment was increasingly driven by IPO expectations instead of just reported earnings.

NSE India Limited: Still the Leader

As in previous quarters, the National Stock Exchange of India remained the most watched unlisted stock and the largest by implied market value. Price quotes across dealer platforms mostly stayed in the ₹2,000 to ₹2,170 range, with one industry tracker noting a 52-week range of roughly ₹1,603 to ₹2,349. NSE's implied market capitalization was estimated at over ₹5 lakh crore, which explains its dominance in discussions about this market.

The main story for NSE this quarter was related to regulations and IPOs rather than purely financial results. Anticipation grew around a potential Draft Red Herring Prospectus filing in mid-June,The proposed mega-IPO is entirely an Offer for Sale (OFS) of ~14.89 crore shares. Some analysts suggested a listing target as far out as Q3 of FY27. On the earnings side, NSE had previously accounted for a one-time provision of about ₹1,297 crore related to a colocation and dark-fibre settlement. Excluding that item, underlying profit growth was reported to be strong both sequentially and annually. This mix of clean underlying profitability, high-profile one-time charges, and a slow but real IPO process kept the stock volatile yet in demand during the quarter.

Financial Infrastructure and Exchanges

Apart from NSE, other exchange-related companies saw active trading:

• This quarter, NCDEX (National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange) traded in a wide range. Quotes were about ₹360 to over ₹425 depending on the platform and date. This was said to have been helped by a return to profitability and an increase in agri-derivatives volumes
  
• Metropolitan Stock Exchange (MSEI) continued to remain in low single digits between ₹5.60 and ₹5.80, with focus on its planned relaunch and a liquidity-boosting plan including a wider stock basket.
  
• Power Exchange India Ltd (PXIL) was highlighted for trading well above the last price at which a stake was sold to a private investor, helped by reforms in the power sector. Power Exchange India Ltd (PXIL) stood out in the unlisted market during Q1 FY27 (April-June 2026). Its shares rose well above the ₹263 level where private investors Norwest and Poonawalla Group had bought stakes in an earlier funding round. By mid-June 2026, the stock was trading around ₹497, within a 52-week range of ₹420-686. Ongoing momentum in India’s power market reforms, especially in renewable energy trading and market-based electricity procurement, kept investor interest high as the IPO approached.

Consumer and Startup Names

• Oravel Stays (OYO) was trading in a tight range around ₹24 and was broadly flat over the quarter.
  
• BigBasket quotes were around ₹1,940 to just under ₹1,970 at different points during the quarter.
  The ₹39-₹40 price tag of Zepto was attributed by dealers to a broader revaluation of quick-commerce.
• Bira91 (B9 Beverages) traded in a narrow range of ~₹58-₹60.

Sports : Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings Cricket Limited, owner of the IPL franchise and a rare “unicorn” in the sports industry, continued to be among the more discussed unlisted names. Its price during the quarter was between around ₹259 and ₹275. The swings were mostly due to sentiment on the team’s on-field performance, rather than any fundamental change in the business, analysts said.

Several themes stood out across the market during April to June 2026:

• IPO-related speculation: was the biggest driver of price changes, especially for NSE. Every piece of regulatory information settlement clearances, DRHP timing discussions, and listing-window estimates affected dealer quotes more than quarterly results did.
  
• Price variation across platforms remained significant: Because unlisted shares trade over-the-counter instead of on a central order book, quotes for the same company often differed by 5 to 10% (and sometimes more) between platforms on the same day. This highlighted that "price discovery" in this market is more approximate than precise.
  
• Regulatory support for exchanges was a factor: Developments like MSEI's relaunch plans and SEBI's proposals for agri-derivatives sparked renewed interest in smaller exchanges (MSEI, NCDEX, PXIL).
  
• Consumer-tech companies: traded more on narrative than on financials. Valuations for companies like Zepto, OYO, and Boat reflected broader market shifts in how private markets are pricing growth-stage consumer businesses after recent corrections in quick-commerce and D2C valuations.
  

Outlook

Looking ahead to the next quarter, the timeline for NSE's DRHP and any concrete SEBI approvals will likely remain the most crucial factor for the broader unlisted market. This is due to the significant share of investor attention and implied value it holds. Investors will also keep an eye on whether MSEI's relaunch gains momentum and if consumer companies stabilize after a volatile period.