Unlisted shares of NSE remain stagnant despite IPO buzz, regulatory progress; here's why

Unlisted shares of National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) continue to remain in a tight range of Rs 2,200-2,300 even after some positive news flow around its IPO. Dealers active in pre-IPO market believe that the current valuations price is the best and prices have not moved up following price band announcement of some other IPO bound companies active in unlisted market.

Sandip Ginodia, CEO of Kolkata-based Altius Investech said that the demand and supply metrics match at current price, which is not allowing the stock price to move in either direction. "NSE will always command a premium considering the business model and duopoly status."

Earlier this week, NSE filed two applications with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to settle the persisting co-location and dark fibre cases by offering to pay a total Rs 1,388 crore. If accepted, this would be the highest amount offered by any entity to settle a case till date.

Also, if things go as per planned, NSE may launch its much-awaited initial public offering (IPO) in the second half of the ongoing financial year (FY26), according to a senior spokesperson familiar with the development. Some other sources privy to the matter said that the leading stock exchange is eyeing to file its DRHP in the next month.

Hitesh Dharawat of Mumbai-based Dharawat Securities said that the best of NSE is already priced in and IPO price bands of active unlisted counters like HDB Financial Services, Tata Technologies, Waaree Energies, UTI Asset Management Company were much lower than their unlisted price. This factor is also weighing on the unlisted shares of NSE.

According to sources and media reports, Several critical issues that had stalled NSE’s IPO are close to resolution including ownership of its clearing subsidiary—NSE Clearing Ltd. (NCL) and co-location case with Sebi, which may result in no-objection certificate (NOC) from the market regulator and pave its way to filed draft paper (DRHP) soon afterwards.

The National Stock has been on the radar of investors awaiting its much-anticipated IPO, ever since first announcing its IPO plans back in 2016, the exchange has faced a series of regulatory and governance hurdles that have kept its listing in limbo for nearly a decade. However, that logjam appears to be finally breaking, said InCred Money.

"With regulatory clarity improving and legacy issues resolved, the path to listing seems clearer than ever. NSE is targeting a public listing in the Q4FY26. While the timing of NSE’s IPO is yet to be formally announced, what’s evident is this: the stage is finally set for one of India’s most awaited listings," it added.

NSE on June 26 announced to launch the electricity futures in the next 2-3 weeks. These futures structured as monthly, cash-settled contracts, they bring price certainty to an otherwise volatile short-term market. These contracts are available for all 12 calendar months in a year. These contracts are listed for the current month and next 3 months.

NSE is ranked the biggest derivatives exchange and second largest in equities by number of trades worldwide. NSE is also the fifth largest stock exchange in the world in terms of market capitalization. This solid market capitalization put NSE among the top-10 most valued companies of India ahead of Bajaj Finance and Hindustan Unilever.