NSE board approves IPO via OFS, revamps panel to oversee listing

New Delhi: The board of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday cleared the decks for its long-awaited initial public offering, approving the launch of its issue that will consist entirely of an offer-for-sale, with no fresh issue component.

The decision comes shortly after market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India granted a no-objection certificate (NOC), paving the way for the bourse to move ahead with its listing plans after more than a decade of delays.

At the same meeting, the NSE board approved the reconstitution of the IPO Committee to facilitate and oversee activities delegated for the execution of the IPO process, according to a statement.

The revamped committee will be chaired by Tablesh Pandey, non-independent director, and will include public interest directors Srinivas Injeti, Mamata Biswal, Abhilasha Kumari and G Sivakumar, along with Ashishkumar Chauhan, managing director and chief executive officer.

The committee has been entrusted with supervising and facilitating various IPO-related processes, with a focus on governance, compliance and procedural discipline as the exchange moves towards listing.

“Considered and approved undertaking an initial public offering (IPO) through an offer for sale by existing shareholders of the company (OFS), for the listing of the equity shares of face value of Re 1 each of the company,” NSE said in a statement. The board decision was taken at its meeting held on Friday. Sebi’s NOC, granted last Friday, marks a major step for the NSE, whose IPO plans were stalled for a decade due to regulatory issues and the co-location controversy.

The country’s largest bourse, NSE’s listing plans had remained on hold since 2016, when the exchange first filed draft offer documents to raise around Rs 10,000 crore through an offer for sale by existing shareholders.

Sebi, however, withheld approval due to regulatory concerns arising from governance lapses and the co-location case. Since then, NSE has approached the regulator multiple times seeking clearance.

Last month, Sebi chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said the regulator had granted “in-principle” approval to NSE’s settlement application in the unfair market access case, an important development seen as paving the way for the exchange’s IPO.

Pandey had also indicated that the NOC could be issued within about a month.

NSE filed its settlement plea in June 2025. The exchange’s IPO plans were stalled due to the co-location case, in which certain brokers were accused of receiving preferential access to the exchange’s trading systems.

After years of litigation, NSE in 2025 offered to pay Rs 1,388 crore to settle the charges and move ahead with the listing process.

The proposed IPO is expected to be among the largest in India’s capital markets.

NSE, which has about 1.77 lakh shareholders, is valued at over Rs 5 lakh crore in the unlisted grey market, market analysts believe.

NSE managing director and chief executive Ashish Kumar Chauhan had earlier described the in-principle approval as a positive signal, though he said no formal communication had been received at the time.

“Once we receive the NOC, we will follow the conditions mentioned in the intimation and begin preparations for filing the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP),” Chauhan said.

He had stated that it could take up to four months after receiving Sebi’s NOC to file the DRHP, which would then require regulatory clearance.