NSE IPO faces traffic jam: Will 10 other issues dent demand for 2026’s biggest offer?

NSE's Rs 22,562 crore IPO is hitting the market in a crowded week, with as many as 10 other public issues opening around the same time. But analysts do not expect the rush to seriously hurt demand for India’s biggest IPO of the year. The exchange is expected to dominate the primary market calendar because of its size, scarcity value and long wait.

The IPO is the second-largest public issue in India’s history, making it difficult for other offerings to pull attention away from it.

Avinash Gorakshakar, Founder and Head of Research at Avinash Mentor Research Services, said institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals are unlikely to face a capital crunch because of one busy IPO week.


"Institutional investors and HNIs typically do not face a capital crunch for a single week’s rush. Major institutional money moves strategically, prioritising high-scale, high-visibility assets like the NSE," Gorakshakar said.

He said a large issue such as NSE may even help the broader IPO market by drawing more attention to the primary market.

"Rather than diluting demand, a blockbuster issue of this scale acts as a magnet. It pulls massive liquidity, retail attention and media hype into the primary market as a whole, which can inadvertently benefit concurrent or smaller issues," he said.

The NSE IPO opens in a week that also includes Hero Motors and several SME and mainboard issues. Hero Motors is seen as the only other large name in the pack, though its Rs 1,000 crore issue is much smaller than NSE’s offering.

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Dr Ravi Singh, Chief Research Officer at Master Capital Services, said the presence of multiple IPOs should not affect NSE’s demand in a meaningful way.

"Yes, the IPO is being clubbed with multiple others, but I don’t think the other IPOs opening this week hold as much gravitas as the NSE IPO. The only other notable one out of the selection would be Hero Motors, in my opinion. Apart from that, yes, there are good businesses, but none that stand out like NSE," Singh said.

He added that investors have been waiting for the NSE IPO for a long time, which should support demand. "As for the demand for the IPO, no, I don’t think it would be affected based solely on the investment outlook on the company, as a lot of investors have been awaiting this IPO for quite some time now," he said.

NSE IPO is entirely an offer for sale. The exchange will not receive fresh capital from the issue. Existing shareholders will sell part of their stake to public investors.

The price band has been fixed at Rs 1,700-1,785 per share. At the upper end, NSE is valued at around 43 times FY26 earnings, which analysts say is not cheap but still reflects the company’s dominant market position.

Paresh Bhagat, Chairman of Mangal Keshav Financial Services, said the busy IPO calendar could create some near-term competition for investor money, especially among retail and HNI investors, but he does not see it as a major structural concern.

"The large number of IPOs hitting the market simultaneously could create some near-term competition for investor liquidity, particularly among retail and HNI investors who have a finite amount of capital to deploy. However, I would not see this as a major structural concern for the NSE IPO," Bhagat said.

He said NSE’s business is different from most other IPOs because it is a market infrastructure institution with a strong position in India’s capital market ecosystem.

"There could be some temporary impact on subscription levels as investors allocate capital across issues, but strong institutional demand and the scarcity value of a leading listed exchange could help absorb this competition," he said.

Is NSE still the favourite?

The key question, however, is whether investors should treat NSE as an automatic subscription just because of the brand. Analysts say the answer is no. NSE remains a high-quality business, but valuation and regulatory risks need to be considered.

"I would not call any IPO a no-brainer, irrespective of the quality of the underlying business. Investors still need to evaluate the valuation at which NSE is being offered, because even a high-quality business can deliver poor investment returns if bought at an excessive price," Bhagat said.

NSE has several structural strengths. It is India’s dominant stock exchange, has strong operating margins and is directly linked to the long-term growth of equity participation, household financialisation and capital market activity.

Shruti Jain, Chief Strategy Officer at Arihant Capital Markets, said the issue remains one of the most-awaited IPOs in Indian history.

"Investors have waited for over a decade for this listing, and excitement has already been built in the last few years through strong activity in the unlisted space. Despite multiple IPOs hitting the market simultaneously, we don’t expect any demand squeeze for NSE. Demand will remain robust," Jain said.

She said NSE is a dominant market leader with operating margins of around 67%, but investors should still look beyond the hype.

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"As for whether investors should apply or not, you need to treat this IPO like any other investment. Understand the business, its financials and long-term growth story rather than the hype," she said.

One area investors are watching closely is NSE’s dependence on transaction charges. Jain said nearly 79% of NSE’s revenue comes from transaction charges, leaving earnings exposed to market volatility and regulatory tightening around derivatives.

This is important because options trading has been a major revenue driver for the exchange. Options transaction fees contributed around 60% of NSE’s FY26 operating revenue.

"Any regulatory changes, changes in participation or contract design, or a slowdown in options activity could therefore have a direct impact on earnings," Singh said.

Still, analysts remain broadly positive on the long-term story. Gorakshakar said the grey market and structural hype point to a positive listing outlook, though investors should keep their expectations measured because of the issue size and the absence of a fresh-issue growth engine.

"Upside right out of the gate may be more measured compared with smaller, high-growth niche IPOs," he said.

Singh said investors may see listing gains if the stock moves towards Rs 1,850-2,000 after listing, but he also warned that hype buying in the first week could be followed by exits in later weeks.

For long-term investors, the NSE IPO is a bet on the continued growth of India’s capital markets. But in a crowded IPO week, the issue is also a test of whether a large, expensive and widely tracked offering can still command strong demand.

Disclosure: This article has been written by Podishetti Akash, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an Investment Adviser. Podishetti Akash and her ‘relative(s)’ (as defined under Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013) do not hold any financial interest in the companies mentioned in this article as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of The Economic Times Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment. Brokerage disclourses here.