NSE IPO gets SEBI nod: who sells 14.89 crore shares

SEBI clears the long-pending NSE listing plan

The National Stock Exchange of India has received approval from market regulator SEBI to proceed with its initial public offering, ending a wait that has lasted nearly a decade. The draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) available on SEBI’s website describes the proposed public issue as a pure offer for sale (OFS). That structure matters because the money raised will not go into NSE’s balance sheet. Instead, proceeds will accrue to existing shareholders who are selling shares as part of the issue. In parallel, the DRHP has put specific numbers on the total shares proposed to be sold, the face value, and the approximate share of paid-up equity involved. The latest filings and summaries also list both public sector and global institutional investors among the selling shareholders.

Offer structure: OFS only, no fresh issue

Multiple reports based on the DRHP state the IPO is entirely an OFS, with no fresh issue component. The public issue is described as up to 14.89 crore equity shares, with a face value of Re 1 each. The same disclosures describe this as nearly 6% of NSE’s paid-up equity capital, and note that the issue size has been fixed at 6% of the exchange’s paid-up capital. Another summary pegs the overall IPO size at about ₹30,000 crore, again framed as an OFS-only issue. Because it is an OFS, the key financial impact is on selling shareholders rather than on NSE’s capital base. Investors tracking the IPO therefore need to focus on which shareholders are selling, how much, and what that implies for their own balance sheets.

Which listed entities are selling shares

The DRHP-based summaries identify four listed Indian market entities among the selling shareholders: State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda (BoB), General Insurance Corporation of India, and The New India Assurance Company Ltd. These names have drawn attention because they connect the IPO directly to listed public sector financial institutions. The document and related reporting also mention Stock Holding Corporation of India as a seller in the OFS. In addition, the selling shareholder list includes National Insurance Limited and United India Insurance Company. Alongside these domestic public sector entities, the selling group also includes offshore and global investors such as MS Strategic (Mauritius), Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Aranda Investments (Mauritius) Pte Ltd.

How many shares are on offer by major PSUs

Within the government-backed group, disclosures and market reports identify SBI as the largest seller. Figures cited for SBI’s shares offered are in a narrow range of about 2.4 to 2.48 crore shares, with one report stating nearly 2.47 crore. Bank of Baroda is described as offering nearly 11 million shares, which is about 1.09 to 1.10 crore shares. Stock Holding Corporation of India is also listed as offering about 1.089 crore shares. General Insurance Corporation of India and The New India Assurance Company are cited as offering about 1.07 crore and 1.05 crore shares, respectively. One summary states seven government-owned entities together hold about 7.97 crore shares that are part of the proposed OFS, underlining the scale of PSU participation.

Bank of Baroda’s stake and offloading details

Bank of Baroda’s holding in NSE is described in the reporting as about 0.89% to 0.9%. One set of details puts its NSE stake at 0.89% equating to 2.1 crore shares, and says the bank will sell up to 1.6 crore shares in the OFS. Another table summarising PSU shareholders states BoB holds 2.20 crore shares and is offering 1.10 crore shares, indicating about 50% of its holding being sold. These figures reflect how different DRHP summaries and market notes have presented the same theme: BoB is a meaningful PSU seller in the OFS and is monetising a sizeable portion of a long-held stake. A separate line in the reporting also frames BoB as the second-largest public sector bank participating in the divestment.

What the foreign and institutional sellers are offering

Beyond PSUs, the selling shareholder list in the DRHP-based reporting includes global institutions and offshore vehicles. These include Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and affiliates of Morgan Stanley and Temasek. Aranda Investments (Mauritius) Pte Ltd, linked to Temasek, is reported to be selling up to 11.24 million shares, which is about 1.124 crore shares. The presence of such names indicates the OFS is also a monetisation route for early institutional backers. The disclosures reiterate that proceeds from these sales go to the selling shareholders, not to NSE.

Market reaction: NSE shareholders moved on the filing

One market update reported that shares of several listed entities holding NSE shares rose intraday after the exchange filed draft papers with SEBI. The same report said the relevant listed stocks rose as much as 2% to 14% intraday, reflecting immediate market focus on value unlocking for shareholders. It also reiterated that the public issue is solely an offer for sale of 148.9 million shares, consistent with the 14.89 crore figure. The sellers highlighted in that market note included SBI, Bank of Baroda, General Insurance Corporation of India, and The New India Assurance Co. While such moves can be short-term, they show how quickly the market reacts to steps in a long-awaited listing.

Key numbers at a glance

Bank of Baroda price and cost details cited in one summary

A DRHP-linked table in the reporting provides additional context for Bank of Baroda around acquisition cost and market price trend. It lists a historical average acquisition cost of ₹0.54 per share for BoB’s NSE shares. It also describes the post-filing market price trend for BoB as subdued, down about 15% near ₹240, with the timestamp in the data shown as 02-Sep-2026 10:17:33 IST. These figures are presented as contextual markers rather than IPO pricing indicators. Still, they help explain why investors track both the selling quantum and the listed sellers’ market performance around major capital market events.

Why the OFS-only structure matters for investors

Because the IPO is an OFS, it is primarily a secondary sale that enables existing shareholders to monetise their holdings. That means NSE does not receive fresh capital through this offering, and the transaction does not directly expand NSE’s balance sheet through new equity. The direct beneficiaries are the selling shareholders, including PSU banks and insurers that have held NSE shares for years. For listed sellers, the transaction can crystallise gains and reshape the value of investments carried on their books. The DRHP-based reporting repeatedly emphasises this point, making it central to how the market is interpreting the event.

What to watch next

The filings and summaries establish the broad outline: SEBI approval, an OFS-only issue, and a defined pool of sellers with publicly cited share quantities. Investors will likely continue to track updates from NSE and SEBI-linked disclosures as the process moves from draft documents to the next steps in the issue timeline. The most concrete near-term monitorables remain the finalised offer details, the confirmed seller-wise allocations, and how listed selling shareholders communicate the transaction’s impact. For now, the key takeaway is that the long-awaited NSE IPO has cleared a major regulatory milestone and is structured to route proceeds to selling shareholders rather than to NSE.