NSE IPO: India's largest exchange gets 5.69x subscription on Day 3; all categories fully booked

The initial public offering (IPO) of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE), which opened for subscription last Thursday, continued to receive a strong response on the final day of bidding. The issue concluded on September 21, 2026 (Monday). It had a price band of Rs 1,700-1,785 per share and comprised an offer for sale (OFS) of Rs 22,562 crore.

On Day 3, the issue received 50,47,38,088 bids against 8,86,42,911 shares on offer, translating into a 5.69 times subscription. The employee reserved portion was subscribed 2.37 times, while the non-institutional investors (NIIs) category saw 6.54 times subscription and the qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) segment received a whopping 12.68 times subscription. The retail portion was subscribed 1.37 times, BSE data showed. At the upper price band of Rs 1,785 per share, the total bids were worth around Rs 90,095 crore.

NSE's market capitalisation (m-cap) is estimated at around Rs 4.42 lakh crore. The face value of each share is Re 1, while the market lot is 8 equity shares. Eligible employees will receive a discount of Rs 170 per share.

NSE allocated shares worth Rs 6,746 crore to anchor investors, including the sovereign wealth funds of Norway and Abu Dhabi, ahead of its IPO.

State-run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) bought shares ​worth Rs 400 crore, or 5.93 per cent of the anchor book, ​and emerged as the largest investor in the round.

Other top investors included the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Norway's Government Pension Fund and asset manager Fidelity.

NSE's IPO is one of the country's largest on record, and ​comes as the primary market draws major issuers, including Mukesh ‌Ambani-backed Jio Platforms, which is expected to list by year-end. That said, the tentative listing date for NSE shares is September 24, 2026.

The exchange's revenue from operations stood at Rs 16,601.31 crore in FY26, compared with Rs 17,140.68 crore in FY25 and Rs 14,780.01 crore in FY24.

Profit after tax (PAT) declined to Rs 10,302.06 crore in FY26 from Rs 12,187.69 crore in FY25. Operating EBITDA stood at Rs 11,097.90 crore, against Rs 12,646.88 crore in the previous fiscal.

The operating EBITDA margin moderated to 66.85 per cent in FY26 from 73.78 per cent in FY25, while the PAT margin declined to 50.98 per cent from 55.30 per cent.