The National Stock Exchange (NSE) is set to open its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO) on September 17, marking a major milestone for the exchange nearly a decade after it first planned to go public.
The (OFS), meaning existing shareholders will sell their shares and the exchange itself will not raise fresh capital through the issue.
The is expected to value NSE at around $46 billion.
Here are the key facts and numbers to know about the NSE IPO and the exchange:
NSE has set a price band of Rs 1,700 to Rs 1,785 per share for its IPO.
The issue will and close on September 21. Anchor investor bidding is scheduled for September 16, while NSE is expected to list on or around September 24.
The exchange has reduced the size of the IPO by more than 15%, after some of its major shareholders trimmed the number of shares they planned to sell.
The issue is entirely an offer for sale, so NSE will not receive proceeds from the shares being sold by existing investors.
NSE was established in 1992, following a period when several stock market scams exposed weaknesses in the country’s fragmented exchange system.
The exchange was conceived as an alternative to the network of regional stock exchanges that dominated the market at the time.
Initial investors included financial institutions such as the Life Insurance Corporation of India, IDBI and State Bank of India.
NSE has grown into the largest stock exchange in the country. As of June 17, NSE had more than 2,000 registered members and over 2,200 listed companies.
The companies listed on the exchange had a combined market capitalisation of around $5 trillion, according to exchange data.
NSE has about 95% market share in the cash equity segment and around 75% in equity derivatives, according to its disclosures.
Its dominance is particularly strong in derivatives.
NSE was the world’s largest derivatives exchange by contracts traded, accounting for roughly 89% of global stock index options volumes in 2025, according to data from the World Federation of Exchanges.
The sharp increase in options trading has been a major driver of NSE’s growth in recent years.
NSE reported a profit of around Rs 10,300 crore ($1.09 billion) for the financial year ended March 2026.
However, profit declined 15% from the previous year.
NSE’s revenue has more than doubled over the period from April 2019 to April 2026, reaching around Rs 18,700 crore.
The growth has been driven largely by the surge in options trading.
Transaction-related income accounts for more than 80% of NSE’s total income, with derivatives transactions making up the bulk of that revenue.
This is significantly higher than the revenue mix at many major global exchanges. The world’s largest exchanges typically generate around 40% of their income from transaction fees, with technology and data monetisation making up a larger share of their businesses.
That makes NSE’s dependence on trading activity, particularly derivatives, an important feature of its business model as it heads towards the IPO.
NSE’s IPO journey began almost a decade ago.
The exchange first planned to list in 2016, but its IPO did not receive regulatory clearance because of investigations into whether NSE had provided equitable access to its trading members, along with other governance-related issues.
In 2019, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) imposed a penalty of around Rs 1,100 crore ($116.43 million) on NSE.
The exchange and the regulator have since been involved in legal proceedings over the matter. NSE has now proposed an out-of-court settlement under which it would pay around $157 million.
The proposed settlement is currently under Sebi’s review, according to NSE’s offer documents.
The grey market premium (GMP) for the NSE IPO has been declining in recent days, signalling that the premium investors are willing to pay over the issue price has narrowed.
The GMP stood at Rs 310 on September 5, before falling to Rs 273 on September 6, Rs 221 on September 7 and Rs 257 on September 8.
It then dropped to Rs 222 on September 9, Rs 192 on September 10 and Rs 190 on September 11, according to the latest available data.
At the upper price band of Rs 1,785, a GMP of Rs 190 implies an estimated listing price of Rs 1,975, or a potential listing gain of around 10.64% over the issue price. GMP is an unofficial indicator and does not guarantee the actual listing price.
The NSE IPO is significant because it will bring one of the most important institutions in the country’s capital markets to the public market.
NSE’s dominance in both cash equities and derivatives, combined with the rapid growth of options trading, has transformed its financial profile over the past several years.
But the IPO also puts greater focus on the exchange’s dependence on transaction revenue.
With more than 80% of revenue coming from transactions, NSE’s earnings are closely linked to trading activity and volumes, particularly in derivatives.
The exchange’s $46 billion valuation, Rs 1,700-1,785 IPO price band, Rs 10,300 crore FY26 profit and dominant 95% cash-market share will therefore be among the key numbers investors will watch when the IPO opens on September 17.
(Disclaimer: The views, opinions, recommendations, and suggestions expressed by experts/brokerages in this article are their own and do not reflect the views of the India Today Group. It is advisable to consult a qualified broker or financial advisor before making any actual investment or trading choices.)