The NSE IPO has been fully subscribed at 1.16 times by the second day of bidding, with the issue receiving bids for 10.28 crore shares against 8.86 crore shares on offer. According to ET Now, all investor categories, barring retail, were fully subscribed by the end of Day 2, with the Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIB) portion seeing the biggest acceleration in demand, being subscribed 1.53 times after just 19% subscription on the first day. The Non-Institutional Investors (NII) segment also showed strong participation, being subscribed 1.68 times with bids for 3.17 crore shares against 1.89 crore shares offered. Domestic institutions led the QIB demand with banks, financial institutions and insurance companies bidding for 25.49 million shares, while foreign institutional investors bid for 5.49 million shares and mutual funds placed bids for 2.80 million shares. The employee category was subscribed 1.53 times, with bids for 0.66 million shares against 0.43 million shares offered. The NII portion received bids for 1.68 times the shares available, while retail investors subscribed to 72% of the shares reserved for them. As per NDTV, the offering is India's second-largest public issue after Hyundai Motor India's ₹27,870-crore IPO in 2024, surpassing LIC's ₹21,000-crore IPO of 2022.
The grey market premium (GMP) for NSE IPO has strengthened to ₹111 as of 9:37 AM on September 19, indicating an estimated listing price of ₹1,896 based on the upper price band plus the prevailing GMP. This represents a 6.22% potential gain over the issue price, significantly higher than the previous GMP of ₹121 that suggested a 7% gain. As per ET Now, this estimated listing price is based on the upper band plus the prevailing GMP of ₹111, with the IPO's upper price band fixed at ₹1,785 per share. The ₹22,569 crore NSE IPO, priced at ₹1,700-1,785 per share, opened on September 17 and will close on September 21. NSE had raised ₹6,746 crore from anchor investors by allotting 3.78 crore shares at ₹1,785 apiece on September 16. Since the offering is entirely an OFS, NSE will not receive any of the proceeds generated through the share sale, with the money accruing to the existing shareholders selling their stakes.
Major institutional investors have sold only a small portion of their NSE holdings, retaining sizeable stakes after the OFS. According to NDTV, institutional investors held a combined 36.82% stake in NSE before the IPO, but are offering shares equivalent to only about 5.11% of the exchange's total equity. Of the 20 institutional shareholders participating in the offer-for-sale (OFS), nine are foreign institutional investors who held a 15.96% stake in NSE before the share sale. The remaining 11 shareholders comprise 10 public sector entities and ICICI Lombard General Insurance, collectively holding a 20.86% stake in NSE before the OFS. Several of NSE's largest shareholders have chosen to sell only a small portion of their holdings through the IPO. Aranda Investments, which held a 4.54% stake before the OFS, is selling only a part of its holding. Similarly, Stock Holding Corporation of India (4.44%), SBI Capital Markets (4.33%), and ChrysCapital (3.73%) have each reduced their holdings by an average of around 7%. Among foreign investors, Crown Capital is offering around 11% of its pre-OFS holding, while TA Asia Pacific is reducing its stake by about 6%.
The ₹22,569-crore NSE IPO has become India's second-largest public issue, behind Hyundai Motor India's ₹27,870-crore offering in 2024. As per The Hindu, it has also moved past LIC's ₹21,000-crore IPO of 2022, but remains smaller than Hyundai Motor India's record issue. The IPO is entirely an Offer For Sale (OFS), under which existing shareholders are offering up to 12.64 crore equity shares. NSE has set the issue price band at ₹1,700-1,785 per share, giving the exchange a valuation of up to ₹4.42 lakh crore at the upper end. The size of the issue has been reduced from the earlier proposal to sell 14.9 crore shares, bringing the offering down from the initial estimate of around ₹30,000 crore. Before the IPO opened, NSE raised ₹6,746 crore from anchor investors on Wednesday, with the anchor book including state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Goldman Sachs and Fidelity, along with GIC Singapore, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Norges Bank. Additionally, sovereign wealth funds such as Eastspring and HSBC Global Asset Management also participated in the anchor round. The issue will close on September 21, with NSE shares expected to make their market debut on September 24.
While the IPO has achieved full subscription, analysts remain split on its valuation, noting that streets had expected a larger offer size. According to The Financial Express, Vincent K A, Senior Research Analyst at Geojit Investments, explained that markets may prefer to wait for a more favourable window that could support their valuation expectations. He noted that the reduction in stake sales appears more reflective of valuation and market conditions than a reassessment of the underlying business fundamentals. Vipin Kumar from Globe Capital Markets expects modest listing gains in the range of 6%–8%, while Angel One has given the IPO a 'Subscribe' rating, noting that at the upper price band of ₹1,785, NSE is valued at a post-issue P/E of 35.4x, compared with BSE's P/E of 54.2x. The brokerage advises investors to look past near-term regulatory headwinds in index options and hold shares from a medium-to-long-term perspective.
