National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) has filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for an initial public offering (IPO). The issue, with a face value of Rs 1 per share, is entirely an offer-for-sale of up to 148,905,525 equity shares, or nearly 6 per cent of NSE’s paid-up capital, by existing shareholders. 

The selling shareholders are State Bank of India, MS Strategic (Mauritius), Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Aranda Investments (Mauritius), Bank of Baroda, Stock Holding Corporation of India, General Insurance Corporation of India, The New India Assurance Company, National Insurance Limited and United India Insurance Company.

The offer is being made through the book-building process. Under this, not more than 50 per cent of the net offer will be allocated to qualified institutional buyers, while not less than 15 per cent and 35 per cent will be reserved for non-institutional bidders and retail bidders, respectively.

The draft papers present NSE as the country’s largest stock exchange in the cash market and equity derivatives, while also outlining its technology backbone, investor reach, non-trading businesses and financial performance.

Incorporated in 1992, NSE said it has remained the largest stock exchange in India in terms of total turnover in the cash market and total turnover in equity derivatives, based on notional turnover for equity options, from FY2001 to FY2026. According to the Redseer report cited in the draft, it has also been the largest stock exchange in India in terms of total turnover in exchange-traded currency derivatives, based on notional turnover of currency options, from FY09 to FY26.

On technology and scale, NSE said its platform processed an average of 12 billion to 14 billion messages daily as of March 31, 2026. It added that on June 4, 2024, the cumulative number of trades across all segments touched 293.85 million, the highest recorded so far at the cumulative level. Its revenue from operations stood at Rs 16,601 crore in FY26, compared with Rs 14,780 crore in FY24, while net profit rose to Rs 10,302 crore from Rs 8,305 crore.

Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, JM Financial, Morgan Stanley India Company, Citi Global Markets India, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets India, JP Morgan India, SBI Capital Markets, Anand Rathi Advisors, Avendus Capital, Axis Capital, DAM Capital Advisors, Equirus Capital, HDFC Bank, ICICI Securities, IDBI Capital Markets and Securities, IIFL Capital Services, Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors, Nuvama Wealth Management, Pantomath Capital Advisors and 360 ONE WAM are the book running lead managers to the issue.

MUFG Intime India Private Limited is the registrar. Shares of NSE will be listed on BSE only.

As per the World Federation of Exchanges, NSE retained its position as the largest equity derivatives exchange globally in FY26, with over 36.99 billion contracts traded, including those on NSE International Exchange. It also said that, as of March 31, 2026, it was the largest exchange in India by total turnover in the cash market and the third largest globally in terms of the number of trades in cash equities.

NSE described itself as a first-level regulator in India and said it is committed to providing equal, unrestricted, transparent and fair access to the stock market for investors, issuers and intermediaries, while maintaining orderly and efficient market functioning and safeguarding investor interests.

It said it operates as a vertically integrated stock exchange, offering trading, clearing, listing, data feed services, data terminal services and licensing services on an integrated platform, along with support for regulatory compliance, risk monitoring and post-trade settlement.

The exchange said it offers products across multiple asset classes, including cash markets, futures, options, a mutual funds platform, commodity derivatives, exchange-traded currency derivatives, the wholesale debt market and interest rate futures.

It also said its operations are supported by proprietary technology infrastructure designed to be resilient and secure, enabling high-speed and high-frequency transactions, seamless market operations, broad market data dissemination and rapid implementation of regulatory directives.

NSE also highlighted its non-trading businesses as complementary sources of revenue. It said NSE Clearing Limited was established in August 1995 for clearing and settlement, and that index services began in May 1998 and are now offered through NSE Indices Limited.
It also pointed to NSE Data and Analytics, set up in June 2000 for data analytics, news and market updates, and to NSE International Exchange in GIFT City for foreign currency-denominated trading. The company added that it has expanded into other complementary businesses, including mutual fund registry services and back-end exchange support services.