MC EXCLUSIVE NSE shortlists around 20 investment banks for mega IPO

NSE shortlists around 20 investment banks for mega IPO

• NSE shortlists 20-21 banks and 7-9 law firms for its mega IPO
• Rothschild appointed as independent advisor for IPO process
• NSE board approves IPO through existing shareholders' sale

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The nation’s largest stock exchange, National Stock Exchange ( NSE), has shortlisted around 20-21 investment banks, including Kotak Mahindra Capital, Citi, JM Financial, JP Morgan, HSBC Securities and Morgan Stanley for its mega IPO, multiple industry sources in the know told Moneycontrol.

Around 7 to 9 law firms have also been shortlisted for the bumper issue, these sources told Moneycontrol, with an official announcement expected shortly.

An e-mail query has been sent but an immediate response couldn’t be elicited from NSE.

Earlier on February 26, Moneycontrol has reported that NSE had floated an RFP (request for proposal) and invited multiple investment banks and law firms for IPO pitches, with a decision on the final set of advisors likely by mid-March.

Later, on March 11, Moneycontrol reported that presentations by investment banks had begun for the prized mandate.

The IPO committee had selected Rothschild as an independent advisor to oversee the IPO process, after meeting various agencies based on technical and commercial proposals, NSE told Moneycontrol in an earlier statement.

On February 12, Moneycontrol reported Rothschild’s appointment.

The NSE statement on Rothschild added, “ The summary of scope of work is as follows : The advisor will lead a transparent, governance‑driven process to select BRLMs, Legal Counsels, and other intermediaries for NSE’s IPO. Responsibilities include developing an objective evaluation framework, defining clear selection criteria, and managing all stages of the selection process—from documentation and clarifications to back‑off coordination and consolidation of evaluation feedback of internal stakeholders. The role also ensures information parity, consistent stakeholder communication, and comprehensive documentation of decisions.”

Post the NSE board meeting held on February 6, the nod was given for the IPO via an offer for sale by existing shareholders. LIC, SBI and Singapore’s Temasek are among some of the firm’s institutional shareholders.

NSE, which is led by MD & CEO Ashish Kumar Chauhan, also strengthened its IPO governance framework by reconstituting a dedicated IPO Committee post the board meeting.

The composition of the re-constituted IPO Committee is as follows: Tablesh Pandey - Chairperson (Non-Independent Director), Srinivas Injeti - Member (Public Interest Director), Prof (Dr.) Mamata Biswal - Member (Public Interest Director), Justice (Retd.) Smt. Abhilasha Kumari - Member (Public Interest Director), Prof. G. Sivakumar - Member (Public Interest Director) and Ashishkumar Chauhan – Member (Managing Director & CEO)

A closer look at NSE

NSE was established in 1992 and started operations in 1994 as India’s first electronic stock exchange. It provides a high-speed, technology-led platform across asset classes like equities, debt, commodities, currencies and their derivatives, and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).

As per the bourses annual report for 2025, it had 11.3 crore unique registered investors ( up by 23 percent y-o-y) and around 22 crore investor accounts, with 2,720 companies listed on its platform. In terms of consolidated financials, the total revenues stood at Rs 19,177 crore ( up 17 percent y-o-y) and profit after tax was Rs 12,188 crore ( up 47 percent y-o-y).

“FY24–25 marked a historic high in India’s capital market journey, with NSE playing a pivotal role in enabling enterprise and empowering entrepreneurship across the issuer spectrum. NSE facilitated a record 18.7 lakh crore ($219 billion) in capital mobilisation, comprising 14.2 lakh crore ($166 billion) in the debt segment — a 24% year-on-year growth—and 4.26 lakh crore ($50 billion) in the equity segment,” the bourse’s head Ashish Kumar Chauhan said in the 2025 annual report.