National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) finalised its anchor allocation on 16 September, allotting 3.78 crore equity shares at ₹1,785 per share. The total anchor allocation was worth about ₹6,746 crore, with mutual fund schemes receiving 1.40 crore shares, accounting for 36.98% of the total shares allotted to anchor investors. According to reports from Mint, the anchor book comprises institutional investors who are allotted shares before an IPO opens for public subscription. However, as per Century Business Media, the anchor book was originally anticipated at ₹9,000 crore but was adjusted to over ₹6,000 crore due to unexpectedly large demand that exceeded available shares.
The 10 mutual fund schemes with the largest allocations received shares worth a combined ₹921.88 crore, around 37% of the ₹2,494.99 crore allotted to domestic mutual funds. As reported by Mint, Nippon India Large Cap Fund topped the list with 7,84,312 shares (2.08% of anchor portion) worth ₹140 crore. Invesco India Contra Fund received the same allocation, making both schemes the largest mutual fund participants in the anchor book. SBI Banking & Financial Services Fund secured the third-largest allocation at ₹100 crore, followed by HDFC Large Cap Fund at about ₹95.57 crore. The allocation provides visibility into which funds have taken exposure to NSE at the IPO stage and helps investors track how different schemes are positioning themselves around one of the country's most closely watched capital market-related IPOs.
The NSE IPO will open for subscription from September 17 to September 21, 2026, with a price band set at ₹1,700-1,785 per share. As per Century Business Media, the issue is entirely an offer for sale involving 12.64 crore shares being sold by existing shareholders, with no new shares being issued by NSE. The allocation process will cater to different categories of institutional investors, including domestic mutual funds, other domestic institutions, and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs). Existing shareholders initially showed reluctance to sell their holdings at the proposed valuation, leading to a reduction in the offer from 6.2% to 5.11%.
NSE's strong financial performance provides context for the IPO's success. In the quarter ended June 2026, NSE's consolidated revenue from operations rose 9% year-on-year to ₹4,560 crore, with net profit increasing to ₹3,121 crore from ₹2,811 crore a year earlier. As of June 30, 2026, NSE had 13.237 crore unique registered investors and 26.136 crore registered investor accounts, with investors spread across more than 99% of Indian postal codes. The exchange remains India's largest stock exchange by turnover in several key segments.
The allocation shows that several large-cap and diversified equity schemes have chosen to participate in NSE's IPO at the anchor price of ₹1,785 per share. As reported by Mint, the participation demonstrates institutional confidence in one of the country's most closely watched capital market-related IPOs. The shares will be listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The anchor book includes 29 domestic mutual funds participating through 98 schemes, reflecting significant institutional interest in the NSE offering, with the IPO attracting substantial demand that surpassed available shares. For existing mutual fund investors, the size of the IPO allocation needs to be viewed in the context of the scheme's overall portfolio, as an allocation of over ₹100 crore may appear large in absolute terms but could represent a much smaller proportion of a scheme's total assets.
