NSE's ₹22,562 Crore IPO Is Fully Subscribed by Second Day of Bidding

Synopsis

On the second day of bidding, the initial public offer (IPO) of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), an all offer-for-sale issue, got over-booked on both the institutional and non-institutional quota with the former subscribed by 1.3 times and the latter by 1.2 times. By mid-afternoon, 65 per cent of their portion had been grabbed by retail investors. The Supreme Court allowed the co-location settlement on Friday and the issue will close on Monday while BSE listing will be on 24 September. Long-term ‘subscribe' ratings have been issued by analysts.

The first day of the initial public offer of the National Stock Exchange of India has seen a complete subscription. By 2.55 p.m. on Friday, investors had bid for 8,88,23,000 shares against 8,86,42,911 on offer.

The non-institutional portion was subscribed by 1.35 times, the qualified institutional buyers' quota was 65 per cent and the retail portion was subscribed by 65 per cent. It was over 43 per cent booked on the first day.

The structure of the offer is very important

It is a sell by existing shareholders for a maximum of 12.64 crore shares at Rs 1,700 to 1,785 per share with a minimum share size of eight. Sellers include State Bank of India, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Aranda Investments (Mauritius), The New India Assurance Company and Bank of Baroda.

NSE Managing Director and CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan has stated that the exchange does not require any fresh capital as its immensely profitable and generates the bulk of its free cash flow as dividends. NSE had mobilised ₹6,746 crore from 189 anchor investors at ₹1,785 per share before the opening of the issue.

The offer was reduced from 6.2 per cent of equity to 5.11 per cent as existing shareholders were initially hesitant to sell at the offer price, Chauhan said. Tuesday, he said that the demand for the anchor book was "unexpectedly large".

The allotment is anticipated on 22nd September and the shares will be listed on BSE only on 24th September. The NSE IPO has seen 'unexpectedly large' demand and the anchor book has crossed ₹6,000 cr, says CEO of the NSE.The NSE IPO has seen 'unexpectedly large' demand with anchor book crossing ₹6,000 cr, says CEO.

An Long 10-year listing wait

For almost ten years, the NSE's listing plans had been stymied by regulatory issues, including the co-location controversy. SEBI had told NSE to pay back ₹625 crore with 12 per cent annual interest since April 1, 2014, in 2019, saying some brokers were being given the upper hand in accessing its servers that provide one-to-one access to real-time market data.

Then the Securities Appellate Tribunal set aside the direction and SEBI took the matter to Supreme Court. In July, SEBI accepted NSE's proposals worth of about ₹1492 crore for the co-location and dark fibre issues.

The Supreme Court had earlier disposed of the dark-fibre appeal and on Friday allowed co-location settlement, Business Standard reported. The settlement is without admission or denial of guilt. Interested investors can find the subscription status, price band, lot size and important details of India's second biggest IPO on NSE IPO Day 2.

Amit Tungare, Managing Partner of Asahi Legal said that the Supreme Court's disposal of SEBI's appeals earlier this month was "the ultimate green light for the National Stock Exchange.

The analyst view and financials

NSE reported a net profit of ₹10,302.06 crore on revenue of ₹18,713.37 crore in 2025-26, and ₹3,210.08 crore on ₹5,252.17 crore in the June quarter. As of March 31, 2026, it had 129.09 million unique investors and 2,978 listed companies. It took 51.18 per cent share in equity-derivatives contracts traded globally in fiscal 2026, Chauhan said.

Brokerages have been positive on the issue. Way2Wealth Research rated it a "subscribe for long term" and GEPL Capital noted the operating leverage afforded by an existing technology platform. Thomas J Priju, Portfolio Manager of Karma Capital, said that he considers NSE a structural growth story and it has the potential to be a consistent compounder.

What to watch

The retail quota is the last to be filled and bidding closes on Monday. The structure of the issue is that up to 50% shall be allocated to qualified institutional buyers, at least 15% to non-institutional investors and at least 35% to retail investors. NSE would have a free float of 100 per cent after listing, if it has approximately 2 lakh shareholders, and the demand would pick up once its shares are eligible for being put in the index, Chauhan said.

The exchange that hosts the Indian companies will be listed on its rival's exchange from September 24.