NSE gains nearly 2% on market debut, valued at Rs 4.49 lakh crore after blockbuster IPO

National Stock Exchange of India shares ended nearly 2 per cent higher on their stock market debut Thursday, giving the country’s largest bourse a valuation of nearly Rs 4.5 lakh crore and placing it among the seven most valuable stock exchanges globally. The listing brought the curtain down on a nearly decade-long wait for NSE to go public after its plans had remained stalled by regulatory hurdles, including issues linked to the co-location controversy.

NSE shares listed at Rs 1,800 on the BSE, a modest premium of 0.84 per cent over the issue price of Rs 1,785. The stock gathered momentum during the session and climbed as much as 5.21 per cent to Rs 1,878 before surrendering part of the gains to close at Rs 1,818, up 1.85 per cent from its issue price.

Valuation touches Rs 4.49 lakh crore

At Thursday’s closing price, NSE commanded a market capitalisation of Rs 4,49,955 crore, making it the 11th most valuable listed company on the BSE. The exchange had briefly broken into the country’s top 10 companies by market value earlier in the session, overtaking Hindustan Unilever, before the consumer goods major moved back ahead by the close.

Hindustan Unilever ended the session with a market capitalisation of Rs 4,54,175.99 crore, narrowly ahead of NSE. The exchange’s valuation, however, was substantially higher than listed rival BSE, which had a market capitalisation of around Rs 1.29 lakh crore.

Reliance Industries remained India’s most valuable listed company with a market capitalisation of Rs 16.49 lakh crore, followed by HDFC Bank at Rs 11.24 lakh crore and Bharti Airtel at Rs 11.17 lakh crore. ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Tata Consultancy Services, Bajaj Finance, Larsen & Toubro and Life Insurance Corporation were also ahead of NSE in the rankings at Thursday’s close.

Among world’s biggest exchanges

NSE’s debut valuation also placed it seventh among the world’s most valuable listed stock exchanges, with its market capitalisation estimated at $46.87 billion. It entered a global group led by US-based CME Group, which was valued at $97.37 billion, followed by Intercontinental Exchange at $87.77 billion and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing at $63.40 billion.

Germany’s Deutsche Börse, Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange were also valued above NSE. The Indian exchange, however, stood ahead of Cboe Global Markets, Singapore Exchange and Euronext on market capitalisation, underlining the scale it has achieved since beginning operations more than three decades ago.

Rs 22,569 crore IPO

NSE’s Rs 22,569-crore initial public offering, India’s second-largest public issue, was subscribed nearly six times by the end of bidding Monday, driven largely by institutional investors. The offer generated bids worth nearly Rs 90,300 crore against an issue size of about Rs 22,568 crore, reflecting strong investor demand despite the relatively modest listing premium.

The NSE offering was second only to Hyundai Motor India’s Rs 27,870-crore IPO in 2024 in terms of issue size and surpassed Life Insurance Corporation’s Rs 21,000-crore public offering in 2022. NSE had fixed the price band at Rs 1,700-1,785 per equity share, with the issue comprising an offer for sale of up to 12.64 crore shares by existing shareholders.

As an entirely offer-for-sale issue, the proceeds went to shareholders selling their stakes rather than to NSE itself. The listing nevertheless provided a public-market valuation for an institution that occupies a central position in India’s capital markets.

Decade-long wait ends

The debut marked the culmination of a listing process that had faced repeated delays for nearly a decade. NSE’s earlier plans to go public became entangled in regulatory issues, most prominently the co-location controversy, delaying an IPO that had long been anticipated by investors and existing shareholders.

Incorporated in 1992, NSE was recognised as a stock exchange by the Securities and Exchange Board of India in April 1993. It began operations in 1994 with its wholesale debt market and subsequently launched its cash market segment, eventually growing into the country’s dominant exchange across several trading categories.

Thursday’s listing has now added NSE itself to the listed universe it helped build. While its shares finished only modestly above the IPO price after touching stronger intraday levels, the Rs 4.49 lakh crore closing valuation immediately placed the exchange alongside some of India’s biggest listed companies and among the world’s most valuable bourses.