Inside NSE IPO journey: Why India's largest exchange took 10 long years to reach Dalal Street

Inside NSE IPO journey: Why India's largest exchange took 10 long years to reach Dalal Street Agencies Synopsis After nearly a decade of delays, NSE is finally set to enter the public markets with its IPO.

The issue will be entirely an offer for sale, allowing existing shareholders to sell their stakes without raising fresh capital for the exchange.

From the co-location controversy to the Supreme Court settlement, several regulatory and legal hurdles had delayed NSE’s market debut.

By Akash Podishetti, ETMarkets.com Sep 13, 2026, 01:49:00 PM IST Follow us The National Stock Exchange (NSE) is finally close to Dalal Street after a wait that lasted nearly 10 years.

The exchange will launch its IPO for public investors on September 17, with listing expected on September 25.

This brings to an end the arduous journey that has been discussed since 2016 but repeatedly pushed back because of regulatory probes, legal cases and governance concerns.ADVERTISEMENT Why NSE IPO took so longNSE first moved towards an IPO in 2016, when it sought Sebi’s approval for a listing and later filed draft papers.

But the plan ran into the co-location controversy, which became the biggest overhang on the exchange’s public market debut.

The case centred on allegations that some brokers got preferential access to NSE’s trading servers through its co-location facility.

The issue later widened into related matters, including dark fibre access, and kept the exchange under regulatory and legal scrutiny for years.

In 2019, Sebi directed NSE to disgorge Rs 624.89 crore along with interest in the co-location matter, according to reports.

This order did not end the matter.

NSE challenged the regulatory findings, and the case moved through appeals and tribunal proceedings.Also Read: NSE IPO: Exchange didn't move an application to trade on its own platform, says CEO Ashish ChauhanADVERTISEMENT The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) stayed parts of Sebi’s disgorgement directions and later set aside certain orders, while Sebi took the matter further to the Supreme Court.

NSE filed settlement applications with Sebi in June 2025 covering the co-location and dark fibre matters.

The exchange initially proposed a cumulative settlement amount of Rs 1,387.39 crore, according to reports.ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The settlement proposal was later revised.

NSE’s IPO papers disclosed that the exchange had proposed to pay Rs 1,491 crore to settle the long-pending co-location and dark fibre matters with Sebi.

These disclosures formed part of the material litigation section of the draft offer documents, making it clear that the old cases were still central to the IPO approval process.A major breakthrough came this year.

NSE said in July that Sebi had granted in-principle approval to settle certain past regulatory lapses, subject to payment of Rs 1,491 crore.

The settlement of the co-location and dark fibre cases helped remove one of the biggest hurdles before the IPO.ADVERTISEMENT The final legal hurdle eased earlier this month.

The Supreme Court accepted the settlement terms between Sebi and NSE in the co-location and dark fibre cases and disposed of Sebi’s pending appeals.

This removed one of the most important hurdles before the IPO.What investors may getADVERTISEMENT The proposed IPO will be entirely an offer for sale.

This means NSE will not raise fresh capital from the issue.

Instead, existing shareholders will sell part of their holdings to public investors.The exchange is central to India’s equity and derivatives trading ecosystem.

NSE is the world’s largest derivatives exchange by contracts traded.

It is also India’s largest stock exchange and runs the Nifty 50, the country’s most tracked equity benchmark.NSE was valued at about Rs 4.9 lakh crore in the unlisted market.