SEBI puts NSDL's proposed Rs 3,000-crore IPO under abeyance: Report

Market regulator SEBI has put National Securities Depository Ltd's (NSDL) proposed Rs 3,000-crore IPO under abeyance due to ongoing probe against NSE, said a report on Thursday. 

NSDL had filed the IPO DRHP with SEBI on July 7. Securities and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) rules say abeyance period lasts for 90 days. NSE is primary shareholder of NSDL. 

CNBC TV18 reported, quoting sources, that NSDL will write to SEBI to reduce abeyance period to 45 days. 

IDBI Bank and NSE's stake in NSDL is over the maximum permissible limit of 15% holding in a depository, said the report. 

The initial public offering (IPO) is a complete offer-for-sale (OFS) of more than 5.72 crore equity shares by existing shareholders, according to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP).

Under the OFS, IDBI Bank plans to offload 2.22 crore shares, National Stock Exchange (NSE) 1.80 crore shares, Union Bank of India 56.25 lakh shares, State Bank of India and HDFC Bank will offload 40 lakh shares each.

Also, Administrator of the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) will sell 34.15 lakh shares of the Mumbai-based depository.

Shares of the company are proposed to be listed on the BSE, as per the draft papers.

A certain portion of the issue will be reserved for eligible employees as well and the company may offer a discount to them on the IPO price.

As of financial year 2023, NSDL's revenue stood at Rs 1,099.81 crore and its net profit was Rs 234.81 crore, which was higher than that in the previous fiscal.

NSDL is a Sebi-registered market infrastructure institution offering a wide range of products and services to the financial and securities markets in India. Following the introduction of the Depositories Act in 1996, NSDL pioneered the dematerialisation of securities in India in November 1996.

As of March 31, 2023, NSDL is the largest depository in India in terms of number of issuers, active instruments, market share in demat value of settlement volume and value of assets held under custody.

ICICI Securities, Axis Capital, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India), IDBI Capital Markets & Securities, Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors and SBI Capital Markets are the book running lead manager to the issue.

With inputs from PTI