SEBI Clears NSE IPO with No-Objection Certificate, Paving the Way for Market Listing After a Decade

India’s leading market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), has granted a long-awaited No-Objection Certificate (NOC) for the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) proposed Initial Public Offering (IPO). This approval has finally set the stalled listing process in motion after nearly a decade.
NSE, the country’s largest stock exchange, had first initiated plans for its IPO in 2016. However, the process was repeatedly delayed due to regulatory and legal hurdles. In particular, investigations and complaints related to the co-location and dark fibre cases prompted SEBI to withhold approval for several years.

With SEBI now granting the NOC after completion of the required regulatory procedures, NSE will move to the next stage of preparing its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP). According to NSE management, the DRHP is likely to be prepared and filed within the next three to four months, while the entire IPO process could be completed within approximately eight to nine months.

SEBI Chairperson Tuhin Kanta Pandey had earlier indicated that there were no remaining obstacles to the IPO based on the size or significance of the exchange. The issuance of the NOC has effectively cleared the path for NSE’s long-pending listing.

NSE Chairperson Srinivas Intheti stated that SEBI’s approval is a confidence-boosting development for the market and marks NSE’s entry into a crucial phase of its institutional journey. He clarified that the IPO will be structured as an Offer for Sale (OFS), meaning existing shareholders will sell a portion of their holdings to the public, while the exchange itself will not raise fresh capital.

This approval is seen as a major milestone for India’s capital markets. The public listing of a key market infrastructure institution like NSE is expected to enhance investor confidence and deepen market participation. The NSE IPO could also emerge as one of the most significant public offerings in the history of India’s capital markets.