The National Stock Exchange (NSE) operates as India's largest stock exchange without an identifiable promoter, making it unique among listed companies. According to The Financial Express, this structure is deliberately designed under SECC Regulations to prevent excessive concentration of ownership in market infrastructure institutions. The exchange maintains a broad shareholder base consisting of insurance companies, banks, financial institutions, sovereign funds and retail investors, with no single shareholder having enough ownership to exercise complete control. While certain institutions such as banks, insurance companies and public financial institutions can hold higher stakes with regulatory approval, ownership remains distributed across multiple entities to protect market integrity and prevent concentration of power.
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is maintaining its 10.72% stake in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) despite the exchange's ₹30,000 crore IPO filing, positioning itself as the only shareholder with board representation on the company's board. According to the draft red herring prospectus filed with SEBI on June 17, LIC's strategic retention is driven by Sebi regulations that permit exchanges to have only non-independent directors who are not trading members or clearing members. The insurer's 5.57% stake in NSE's rival BSE Ltd demonstrates its broader exchange investment strategy, with LIC having previously nominated former MD Jagannath Mukkavilli as a non-independent director on BSE's board effective February 2024. As per investment bankers involved in the deal, LIC's decision to retain its stake in the clear industry leader makes monetizing the investment less attractive from their usual long-term investment perspective, particularly when other government entities are selling their holdings.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has filed its 614-page draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI and BSE, marking a significant milestone in India's capital markets. Based on the exchange's unlisted market valuation of around ₹5 lakh crore, market participants estimate the IPO size at approximately ₹30,000 crore, making it potentially the largest public issue in India since the Hyundai Motor India IPO of around ₹27,859 crore in 2024. The IPO is entirely an offer for sale (OFS) with existing shareholders collectively divesting around 148.9 million equity shares, representing nearly 6% of NSE's paid-up capital. Among state-backed entities, State Bank of India (SBI) emerges as the largest selling shareholder, offering up to 24.75 million shares, while Bank of Baroda, Stock Holding Corp, PSU insurers GIC Re and The New India Assurance Company have offered around 11 million shares each. National Insurance Co and United India Insurance Co are each divesting around 6 million shares, with other marquee shareholders including investor Radhakishan Damani (1.58%) and Premji Invest (2.35%) also retaining their investments.
State Bank of India (SBI) emerges as the largest selling shareholder, offering up to 24.75 million shares in the OFS structure. According to disclosures in NSE's draft red herring prospectus, SBI's weighted average acquisition cost works out to just ₹0.80 per share, reflecting decades of share issuances, bonus allotments and capital restructuring. At an assumed IPO price of ₹2,000 per share, the stake being sold would be worth nearly ₹49,500 crore, implying a notional gain of about ₹49,480 crore for the lender. SBI first received NSE shares on August 9, 1993, in a preferential allotment at ₹10 each, followed by additional allotments in April 1994 and a rights issue in June 1999 at ₹30 per share. The bank currently holds 7.98 crore shares, a 3.23% stake, and is offering roughly 31% of that holding while retaining the rest after listing. Recent secondary market transactions over the past year have been priced between ₹1,350 to ₹2,260 per share, with SBI's offered stake potentially fetching between ₹3,341 crore to ₹5,591 crore based on these price ranges.
NSE is among the world's largest derivatives exchanges and India's dominant stock exchange by trading volumes, reporting revenue from operations of ₹166.01 billion and a net profit of ₹103.02 billion in FY26. The exchange's board approved the proposed IPO on February 6 after receiving a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from SEBI in January 2026, clearing the way for its much-awaited listing. The regulator's clearance was significant as it was delinked from the settlement of some long-pending cases linked largely to alleged regulatory violations around co-location. NSE had filed a settlement application on June 20, 2025, in the co-location case, offering to pay ₹1,387.39 crore to settle the matter. A recent Sebi expert panel agreed to NSE's proposal to make a payment to settle cases that had been a key stumbling block in clearing the IPO. The financial statements appended to the DRHP highlighted the exchange's financial trajectory, with total income of ₹187,133.70 million for FY26, down slightly from ₹191,768.31 million in the preceding fiscal year, but higher than ₹163,520.62 million reported in FY24.
DOMS shares rose 0.43% to ₹2,323.9 amid high volumes following the stake acquisition news. Finolex Industries stock was up 1.39% at ₹173.06 on the National Stock Exchange. Additionally, Baazar Style Retail shares rallied 3.9% to ₹350.05 after Garg Brothers sold 8.75 lakh shares (1.14% stake) for ₹28.76 crore at ₹328.72 per share. The NSE listing will make it the third exchange after MCX and BSE whose shares will be traded on exchanges, with shares listed on BSE just as BSE's own shares are listed on NSE. NSE currently has nearly 1.8 lakh shareholders and had first filed draft offer documents in 2016 for an OFS of around ₹10,000 crore, though SEBI subsequently advised withdrawal amid governance concerns.
