A Historic Milestone: NSE Receives SEBI's No-Objection Certificate for Its IPO

19 August 2026

India's largest stock exchange has crossed a critical milestone in its nearly decade-long path to a public listing. The National Stock Exchange has received a No-Objection Certificate from SEBI, confirmed by NSE CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan, clearing the way for its Draft Red Herring Prospectus to move through final regulatory review.

The Decade-Long Road

NSE's IPO journey has been anything but straightforward. The exchange first filed its draft prospectus back in December 2016, but the process stalled for years amid regulatory scrutiny over preferential access to its algorithmic trading platform — the co-location controversy that would go on to define nearly a decade of delay. Multiple attempts to secure SEBI's no-objection certificate followed — in 2019, twice in 2020, and again in 2024 — each running into unresolved governance concerns.

The breakthrough came this year. SEBI decoupled the ongoing co-location settlement from the IPO approval process, allowing NSE to move forward on its listing while the legacy matter was resolved in parallel. NSE has since fully settled the case, paying a total of ₹1,491.21 crore to close out the last major legal overhang on the exchange.

Where Things Stand Today

NSE filed its DRHP with SEBI on June 17, 2026, and global investor roadshows began a month later across financial hubs including Boston, New York, San Francisco, London, Singapore, and Hong Kong, with roughly 120 large institutional investors engaged — including BlackRock, Capital Group, GQG Partners, Janus Henderson, and Allspring Global Investments. NSE has appointed 20 investment banks to manage the issue, among them Kotak Mahindra Capital, JM Financial, Morgan Stanley, HSBC, and Citigroup.

While the NOC is in hand, SEBI's final DRHP approval is still awaited — reportedly expected within the next two weeks. The approval timeline shifted after SBI Capital Markets was added to the list of selling shareholders, a change that triggered a fresh 21-day public feedback period on the offer documents.

The issue itself is structured entirely as an Offer for Sale — up to 14.89 crore shares, roughly 6% of NSE's paid-up equity, sold by existing shareholders. As an OFS, proceeds go to the selling shareholders rather than to NSE, and the share count stays fixed, so there is no dilution.

The Valuation Question

NSE is reportedly targeting a valuation of ₹5.2–5.3 lakh crore, with a potential price band of ₹2,100–2,300 per share. At the upper end, a 6% stake sale could raise close to ₹31,500 crore — which would make this India's largest-ever IPO, surpassing Hyundai Motor India's ₹27,870 crore issue.

Working off NSE's reported PAT of ₹10,302 Cr and 247.5 crore outstanding shares, here's how the implied valuation moves across a range of P/E multiples:

P/E Multiple	Market Capitalisation (₹ Lakh Cr)	Implied Price per Share (₹)
35x	3.6	1,457
40x	4.1	1,666
45x	4.6	1,874
50x	5.2	2,082
55x	5.7	2,290
60x	6.2	2,498

Since the issue is entirely an OFS, the share count stays fixed, making implied per-share values directly comparable across the multiple range. Notably, the reported target price band of ₹2,100–2,300 sits right around the 50x–55x mark — implying the market is pricing NSE close to BSE's current P/E of roughly 50x, rather than at a premium or discount to India's only other listed exchange.

The Bigger Picture

At its targeted valuation, NSE would rank around 6th globally among listed exchange operators by market value — a striking marker for an institution that spent nine years working through a single regulatory approval. With the DRHP decision now the final gate before pricing, the coming two weeks will determine whether NSE's September listing timeline holds.