NSE IPO Draft Papers Due Next Week After Decade Delay

Sebi Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said in January that the regulator had granted in-principle approval to NSE's settlement application, widely viewed as the last major regulatory hurdle. The exchange has since appointed 20 merchant bankers and legal advisers to manage the issue.

The draft red herring prospectus is expected on June 15 or June 16, people said. The exchange, which has about 1.8 lakh shareholders, is valued at over Rs 5 lakh crore in the unlisted market. The listing would rank among India's largest, though the exact offer size has not been disclosed.

For existing shareholders, the OFS represents a liquidity event after years of holding an unlisted stake. Retail and institutional investors will get their first chance to own a piece of an exchange that handles the bulk of India's cash and derivatives trading–a franchise with high barriers to entry and regulated pricing power. The key open question is how the market prices that franchise after a decade of legal overhang.