Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 6 (ANI): The board of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday approved the launch of its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO), paving the way for the country’s largest stock exchange to move closer to a public listing.
The proposed IPO will be an entirely offer-for-sale (OFS) by existing shareholders, with no fresh equity issuance, the exchange said in a statement. This means the company will not raise new capital through the public issue, and the proceeds will go to the selling shareholders.
“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.
As part of the process, the board also approved the reconstitution of its IPO Committee to facilitate and oversee activities related to the public issue.
The revamped committee will be chaired by Tablesh Pandey, a non-independent director. It will include public interest directors Srinivas Injeti, Mamata Biswal, Abhilasha Kumari and G Sivakumar, along with Ashishkumar Chauhan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NSE.
The committee has been entrusted with overseeing and facilitating various IPO-related processes, with a focus on governance, regulatory compliance, and procedural discipline as the exchange advances toward listing.
The development marks a significant step in NSE’s long-pending plan to go public, subject to regulatory approvals and market conditions.
Last month, NSE received the green signal from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to file for an IPO.
NSE has been seeking regulatory clearance for its public listing for several years, following governance concerns and the co-location controversy that came under SEBI’s scrutiny.
NSE initially filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) in December 2016. The process was delayed by regulatory challenges, particularly allegations of unfair access to its algorithmic trading platform in India.
Later in August 2024, the NSE reapplied to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for a no-objection certificate to proceed with its IPO.
In October 2024, the NSE settled its Trading Access Point (TAP) Architecture and Network Connectivity case by paying a penalty of Rs 643 crore to SEBI, which was probing an alleged deficiency on the part of the exchange and its top officials to deal with a situation wherein some high-frequency stock traders were found to be gaming the system. (ANI)
