NSE IPO draws Rs 90,000 crore bids, becomes most subscribed among India’s five biggest issues

The National Stock Exchange’s long-awaited initial public offering attracted bids worth around Rs 90,000 crore, with the Rs 22,561.57-crore issue subscribed 5.71 times as strong institutional demand propelled it past India’s other mega IPOs in terms of subscription.

The country’s largest stock exchange received bids for 50.58 crore shares against 8.86 crore shares available to investors when the subscription window closed Monday. The response made NSE the most subscribed among India’s five largest IPOs by issue size, even as its offering remained the second biggest in absolute terms after Hyundai Motor India’s Rs 27,859-crore IPO in 2024.

Institutions lead demand

Qualified institutional buyers emerged as the biggest source of demand, with their reserved portion subscribed 12.68 times. Non-institutional investors, including high-net-worth individuals, subscribed 6.55 times their quota, while the retail portion was subscribed 1.39 times.

The response from retail investors strengthened substantially on the final day after remaining relatively subdued during the earlier part of the bidding period. The employee portion was subscribed around 2.4 times.

NSE had already raised Rs 6,746 crore from nearly 189 anchor investors before the public issue opened. The anchor book included major domestic and overseas institutions such as Life Insurance Corporation of India, Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

The IPO opened on September 17 and closed on September 21, with a price band of Rs 1,700 to Rs 1,785 per share. At the upper end of the band, NSE was valued at around Rs 4.42 lakh crore.

Ahead of other mega IPOs

The 5.71-times subscription placed NSE ahead of the other four biggest public offerings in India. Hyundai Motor India’s Rs 27,858.75-crore IPO had been subscribed 1.93 times, while Life Insurance Corporation of India’s Rs 20,557.23-crore issue in 2022 was subscribed 2.05 times.

One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, had seen its Rs 18,300-crore IPO subscribed 1.48 times in 2021, while Tata Capital’s Rs 15,511.87-crore offering in 2025 was subscribed 1.65 times.

NSE’s IPO, however, is entirely an offer for sale by existing shareholders, meaning the exchange itself will not receive proceeds from the share sale. Up to 12.64 crore equity shares are being sold by existing shareholders, with the proceeds, after expenses, going to the sellers.

Listing on September 24

The basis of allotment was expected to be finalised Tuesday, with NSE shares scheduled to make their stock market debut on the BSE on September 24.

The listing will bring to an end a wait of nearly a decade for NSE, which first approached market regulator Sebi for an IPO in 2016. Its listing plans were subsequently delayed amid regulatory issues linked to the co-location and dark-fibre cases. In July this year, Sebi accepted NSE’s application to settle regulatory proceedings for Rs 1,491 crore, clearing a major hurdle for the public offering.

The IPO is also the largest public issue in India so far in 2026 and comes amid a busy period for the primary market. For NSE, the listing will mark a significant transition from being the country’s dominant trading platform to becoming a publicly traded company itself.