NSE’s mega IPO moves closer as SC approves Sebi settlement

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday accepted the settlement terms arrived at between Securities and Exchange Board of India and National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) in the co-location and dark fibre cases, removing a key regulatory hurdle to the exchange's listing that's expected to be the country's second-largest initial public offering (IPO) ever.

The proposed NSE IPO is expected to garner as much as ₹31,000 crore, making it the country's second-biggest IPO - next only to the proposed initial share sales by Jio Platforms. The nearly ₹28,000-crore IPO by Hyundai Motor India, launched in October 2024, remains the country's biggest concluded IPO to date.

Last week, Sebi Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said on the sidelines of an event in Mumbai that the regulator was 'close' to giving its approval to the NSE IPO.


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The country's biggest stock exchange had filed on June 18 the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for its initial public offering . The offering comprises an offer for sale of 148.91 million shares to be offloaded by some existing shareholders.

The case relates to the alleged lapses in high-frequency trading offered through the exchange's colocation facility that allegedly gave some entities preferential access.

The market regulator had in July accepted the National Stock Exchange of India's application under the settlement proceedings regulation for a settlement amount of ₹1,491 crore. NSE said the capital markets regulator granted in-principle approval to settle certain past regulatory lapses, subject to the payment of ₹1,491 crore.

The NSE had filed the settlement application of ₹1,224 crore to close the market regulator's pending appeal in the Supreme Court in the co-location facility case. The NSE had also filed another application for a settlement amount of about ₹268 crore to another pending appeal in the co-location facility-related dark fibre case. However, the co-location case pending against NSE's former managing director and chief executive officer Chitra Ramkrishna, and others will continue and will be decided separately, a bench led by Justice JB Pardiwala said. It disposed of Sebi appeals challenging the Securities Appellate Tribunal orders that set aside the market regulator's disgorgement directive in the co-location and dark fibre cases.

Sebi's 2019 order had imposed a ₹625 crore disgorgement penalty on the NSE. SAT had set aside the disgorgement order in January 2023 and instead imposed a ₹100 crore penalty on the exchange for lack of due diligence in following norms while offering colocation.

It said the stock exchange did not make any illicit gain in the colocation case and there was no finding of fraud, unfair trade practice or collusion against them.

The NSE launched the colocation facility in 2009, allowing traders and brokers to establish their IT servers within its premises for a fee.