State Bank of India and Life Insurance Corporation of India Ltd. are likely to be key sellers in the potential $2.5-billion initial public offering of the National Stock Exchange of india.
The NSE IPO is likely to be a pure offer-for-sale, wherein existing shareholders are likely to offer 4%-4.5% of the company’s equity, a person aware of the deal told Bloomberg News on the condition of anonymity because the information is private. All 190,000 shareholders of the exchange will be given the option to participate in the OFS, this person said.
LIC holds a 10.72% stake in NSE and Temasek Holdings has 4.5%, according to data published on the exchange’s website. SBI Capital also held roughly 4.5% as of 31 December 2025, while SBI’s stake is about 3.2%, the data show.
NSE IPO GMP
NSE shares are trading at ₹2,150 in the grey market, implying a valuation of about ₹5.3 lakh crore, making the National Stock Exchange the world’s fourth most valuable exchange among listed peers, according to Bloomberg data.
The stock had climbed to a peak of about ₹2,420 on the unlisted market in June 2025 before sliding nearly 20% to about ₹1,920 November, according to data from Incredmoney.com. The decline was largely attributed to a drop in F&O volumes following a regulatory ban on New York-based quantitative trading firm Jane Street over alleged market manipulation. The shares have since stabilised, tracking a recovery in derivatives activity and improving sentiment around the exchange’s long-awaited IPO.
NSE IPO Committee
NSE’s board is likely to form a committee comprising its top executives and the representatives of major shareholders including LIC and SBI in a few days to oversee the NSE IPO process, the person said. The board is scheduled to meet on 6 February to approve the financial results for the quarter ended December 2025 and is also likely to decide on the formation of the committee.
The mandate is expected to include assisting the board in appointing investment bankers, negotiating fees, determining the amount of shares to be sold by existing investors, and filing the draft red-herring prospectus. NSE is targeting a timeline of about three months for the filing.
Deliberations are ongoing and key details could still change, the person said. Spokespeople for NSE, LIC, SBI, and SBI Capital Market didn’t respond to requests for comment. Temasek declined to comment.
NSE IPO: Key Financials
NSE, which commands more than 75% of India’s derivatives market, reported a 15% increase in revenue to ₹17,100 crore in FY25, even as net profit surged 44% to ₹12,188 crore, delivering a net margin of about 71%.
On Friday, NSE said it had received regulatory clearance to begin preparations for an IPO. The approval comes nearly a decade after it first filed for a listing in 2016-a plan that stalled following allegations of corporate governance lapses and unfair market access raised by the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The exchange subsequently filed two settlement applications related to the case, proposing to pay close to ₹1,300 crore.