National Stock Exchange files draft papers for Rs10,000-cr IPO

National Stock Exchange (NSE), India's largest bourse, has filed draft papers with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for an initial public offer, to raise an expected Rs10,000 crore, in what could be the country's biggest listing since 2010.

NSE's Rs10,000 crore IPO makes it India's biggest since Coal India raised Rs22,400 crore in an IPO in 2010.

The initial public offer will see existing shareholders of NSE offloading 20-25 per cent shares to the public through the OFS route.

The IPO, worth about Rs10,000 crore, would give the exchange a valuation of Rs50,000-55,000 crore, sources said.

NSE had set a 31 January deadline for filing the draft red herring prospectus with Sebi.

Rival BSE is also in the process of launching its initial share sale of up to Rs1,500 crore for which it filed draft prospectus with Sebi in September. Besides, CDSL, promoted by BSE, filed the draft papers yesterday for an initial public offer through which it plans to sell more than 35 million shares.

Currently, MCX is the only listed exchange in the country, but it had come out with an IPO as a standalone commodity exchange much before the merger of Forward Markets Commission (FMC) with Sebi to create a unified capital markets regulator. Since then, all exchanges have become deemed stock exchanges.

The exchange has already formed a listing committee to expedite the IPO process, apart from roping in merchant bankers. It has also appointed Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, JM Financial Institutional Securities and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company to manage its upcoming IPO.

NSE was incorporated in 1992 and was recognised as a stock exchange by Sebi in April 1993 and commenced operations in 1994 with the launch of the wholesale debt market, followed shortly after by the launch of the cash market segment.

Between 1994 and 2016, the bourse expanded its lines of business and product offerings through key milestones, including the setting up of a wholly-owned subsidiary, NSCCL, which became the first clearing corporation to be established in India).

In 1998 NSE established IISL, as a joint venture with CRISIL Limited to operate an indices business. IISL became a wholly-owned subsidiary in 2013 following the acquisition of CRISIL's 49 per cent stake.

In 1999, the bourse established NSEIT, a wholly-owned subsidiary and a global technology firm that provides end-to-end technology solutions, including application services, infrastructure services, analytics as a service and IT enabled services. In 2015 and 2016, respectively, NSEIT launched its Testing Center of Excellence and Integrated Security Response Center.

 In 2000, it incorporated DotEx, a wholly-owned subsidiary, and consolidated the data and info-vending business under DotEx and in 2006 incorporated NSE Infotech Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary for IT research and development.

The year 2016 saw consolidation of the education business under NSE Academy, a wholly-owned subsidiary. NSE also incorporated two new subsidiaries, NSE IFSC Limited and NSE IFSC Clearing Corporation Limited, in furtherance of its long-term business strategy to establish an international exchange in GIFT City.

NSE also has strategic investments in complementary businesses, including mutual fund registry services, back-end exchange support services for its platforms, depository services, e-corporate governance and commodity, power and receivables exchanges.