India's NSE targets June DRHP filing

India’s biggest stock exchange is trying to do something it was first cleared to do almost a decade ago: sell its own shares to the public. The National Stock Exchange is now aiming to file its draft prospectus by June 2026 and list before December 2026, according to multiple Indian media reports published on April 9. (moneycontrol.com) (livemint.com) This is not a company coming to market to raise fresh money for factories or expansion. The reported plan is a pure offer for sale, which means existing shareholders would sell part of their stake and the exchange itself would not get new growth capital from the issue. (moneycontrol.com) (freepressjournal.in) The delay has been unusually long. The Securities and Exchange Board of India first gave National Stock Exchange approval to pursue a listing in 2016, but the plan stalled for years as regulatory issues tied to the exchange’s co-location and dark-fibre cases kept hanging over the file. (business-standard.com) (businesstoday.in) The logjam started to move again in early 2026. Business Standard reported on January 30, 2026 that the market regulator had granted a no-objection certificate, which is the document National Stock Exchange needed before filing draft papers for the offering. (business-standard.com) National Stock Exchange is not a niche venue in India’s markets. As of April 30, 2025, it handled 94.6 percent of equity cash-market turnover, 99.8 percent of equity futures turnover, 80 percent of equity options turnover, 95.1 percent of currency futures turnover, and 100 percent of currency options turnover, according to a 2025 research report built from company disclosures. (wwipl.com) That dominance shows up in the numbers. For the year ended March 31, 2025, National Stock Exchange reported ₹17,140.68 crore in revenue from operations and total income of ₹19,176.83 crore, with profit after tax widely reported at about ₹12,188 crore. (wwipl.com) (planify.in) An exchange is a strange business in a good way: once traders, brokers, and listed companies are already there, the next trade costs very little to process. That is why exchanges often have operating leverage, where volume rises faster than costs, and why the market leader can look more like a toll road than a typical financial firm. (freepressjournal.in) (wwipl.com) The shareholder base is also unusually broad for a still-unlisted company. Reports around the no-objection certificate said National Stock Exchange had roughly 1.77 lakh shareholders, which helps explain why pressure to finally create a public exit route has kept building. (business-standard.com) (investoomarket.com) The likely size is large even by Indian standards. Moneycontrol reported on April 9 that the sale could raise up to about ₹23,000 crore through a 4 percent to 4.5 percent stake dilution, while other reports have floated figures near $2.5 billion depending on valuation and final stake sold. (moneycontrol.com) (indiaipo.in) That makes the next two dates the ones to watch. If the draft red-herring prospectus lands around June 2026 and the listing happens before December 2026, India will finally get a public market price for the company that already sits at the center of most of its public market trading. (livemint.com) (sebi.gov.in)