India’s National Stock Exchange IPO gains regulatory approval, NSE says

MUMBAI: The National Stock Exchange of India, the country’s largest bourse, received regulatory approval on Friday to proceed with its long-awaited initial public offering, the NSE said.

“With SEBI’s approval, we embark on a new chapter of value creation for all our stakeholders,” NSE Chair Srinivas Injeti said in a statement. “This approval also reinforces confidence in NSE being an integral part of the Indian economy and a beacon of Indian capital markets.”

The Securities and Exchange Board of India did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The world’s most active derivatives exchange has been embroiled in litigation with the regulator since 2019, when it was fined 11 billion rupees ($120 million) for failing to provide equitable access to all its trading members.

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Mumbai-based NSE had offered to pay SEBI 13.88 billion rupees to settle the dispute so it could proceed with the IPO, Reuters reported last year, citing sources. The settlement process would continue and not hamper NSE’s plans to go public, according to one of the sources.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that the exchange planned to file a draft prospectus for the IPO by the end of March.

SEBI’s clearance for it to proceed with the IPO is conditional on the NSE making full disclosure of pending litigations, said a source with direct knowledge of the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity as the regulator’s communication is not public.

The exchange did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“NSE will form a committee comprising its management and some bigger shareholders to decide how investors can tender their shares in the offer-for-sale,” said a second source, declining to be named as discussions are private.

It has 177,807 shareholders, making it India’s largest unlisted company in terms of number of investors and adding to the complexity of the offering.

Its biggest institutional shareholders include Life Insurance Corporation of India, State Bank of India, Temasek Holdings, Morgan Stanley and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

Its main domestic rival, BSE Ltd, listed in 2017.