NSE’s biggest bull bets bigger: LIC’s 10.72% stake gets Rs 450 crore anchor boost

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the largest shareholder of the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), has received shares worth around Rs 450 crore in the exchange’s anchor book just ahead of its much-awaited initial public offering (IPO).

According to the Red Herring Prospectus (RHP), LIC holds 26.52 crore NSE shares, representing a 10.72% stake, making it the exchange’s largest shareholder.

The fresh anchor allocation adds to LIC’s sizeable exposure to NSE. The exchange has raised Rs 6,746.18 crore from 189 anchor investors, with shares allotted at the upper end of the IPO price band of Rs 1,785 apiece.


LIC was allotted 22,42,584 shares, worth Rs 400.30 crore at the anchor price. In addition, the LICI ULF-Growth Fund received 2,24,096 shares worth Rs 40 crore, while the LICI New Pension Plus Growth Fund was allotted 56,024 shares worth Rs 10 crore.

Together, the three LIC-linked entities received shares worth around Rs 450.30 crore in the anchor allocation.

LIC leads NSE’s heavyweight shareholder base

LIC tops NSE’s shareholder list, followed by a mix of domestic and global institutional investors.

According to the RHP, the top 20 shareholders collectively hold 130.59 crore NSE shares, representing 52.76% of the pre-offer equity share capital.

Aranda Investments (Mauritius) Pte Ltd holds 11.25 crore shares, or 4.54%, while Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd owns 11 crore shares, equivalent to 4.44%.

SBI Capital Markets Ltd holds 10.73 crore shares, or 4.33%, followed by Mahagony Ltd with 9.23 crore shares, representing 3.73%. State Bank of India owns 7.98 crore shares, or 3.23%.

Other significant shareholders include PI Opportunities Fund I with a 2.35% stake, Crown Capital Ltd with 2.07%, DVI Fund (Mauritius) Ltd with 1.83%, and TIMF Holdings with 1.75%.

Among other notable institutional shareholders are General Insurance Corporation of India with a 1.64% stake, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board with 1.60%, and Radhakishan Shivkishan Damani with 1.58%.

The three government-owned general insurers — National Insurance Company Ltd, The New India Assurance Company Ltd and The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd — each hold a 1.42% stake.

TA Asia Pacific Acquisitions Ltd holds 1.38%, followed by MS Strategic (Mauritius) Ltd at 1.20%, 2726247 Ontario Inc. at 1.09% and Rimco (Mauritius) Ltd at 1%.

ALSO READ: The NSE IPO investor playbook: Should you subscribe to the mega issue or pick rival BSE instead?

NSE IPO details

The NSE IPO opened for public subscription on September 17 and will remain open until September 21. The issue is entirely an offer for sale (OFS) by existing shareholders, with 23 shareholders offering up to 12.64 crore shares.

The IPO is expected to raise Rs 22,561.57 crore at the upper end of the price band.

The book-built issue has a price band of Rs 1,700–Rs 1,785 per share, with a lot size of eight shares. At the upper end of the price band, retail investors will need to invest Rs 14,280 for one lot.

The allotment is expected to be finalised on September 22, while the shares are scheduled to list on the BSE on September 24, subject to the proposed timeline.

As of 2:15 pm on Day 1, the issue had been subscribed 33% overall, against 8.86 crore shares on offer, according to NSE data. The retail individual investor (RII) portion was subscribed 34%, against 4.41 crore shares on offer. The non-institutional investor (NII) portion was subscribed 48%, against 1.89 crore shares offered. Qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) had subscribed 18% of their 2.52 crore-share allocation.

Brokerages have also broadly recommended the NSE IPO. At the upper price band of Rs 1,785, NSE is valued at 42.9 times FY26 earnings. LKP Securities has given a "Subscribe" rating to the IPO and said NSE’s post-issue implied market capitalisation stands between Rs 4.2 lakh crore and Rs 4.42 lakh crore. YES Securities has also recommended "Subscribe", saying NSE is available at a 21% discount to BSE on a price-to-earnings basis. According to the brokerage, BSE trades at 54.3 times FY26 diluted earnings, compared with 42.9 times for NSE at the cap price.

Analysts cited in the brokerage reports have highlighted NSE’s market position, margins, debt-free balance sheet and growing investor base as factors supporting the long-term investment case.

ALSO READ: NSE IPO opens with 7% GMP. Should you subscribe to Rs 22,569 crore issue?

About NSE

Incorporated in 1992, NSE is India’s largest integrated market-infrastructure platform, offering trading, listings, clearing, settlement, data and index services across asset classes, including through NSE International Exchange at GIFT City. As of Q1FY27, NSE served 132.4 million unique investors, hosted 3,005 listed entities and had Rs 474.1 trillion in listed market capitalisation. Its integrated technology platform and deep liquidity underpin its market-infrastructure operations, while its revenues remain linked to transaction activity and exposed to regulatory and market cycles.

This article has been written by Kumar Gaurav, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an Investment Adviser. Gaurav and his/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.