Sebi's Tuhin Kanta Pandey on NSE IPO: All outstanding issues to be resolved, will move forward 'soon'

SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey

SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on May 22 said that the outstanding issues related to NSE IPO will soon be resolved. "We will soon go ahead with it," he said.

When asked about a timeline for NSE's IPO, the Chairman of the market regulator said it would be soon. "NSE and SEBI are talking. They are resolving the issues. I am very hopeful that it will be done soon and we will move forward," he told reporters outside ASSOCHAM 16th Capital Market Conference.

Earlier during an interaction with Moneycontrol, Tuhin Kanta Pandey had said that the regulator has engaged with the bourse with respect to the IPO process.

“NSE and SEBI are in discussions on several key points — governance, technology, litigation, and the clearing corporation. Hopefully, these issues will be resolved with a clear roadmap, and then the IPO can move forward,” Pandey had told Moneycontrol on April 30.

NSE filed its IPO prospectus in December 2016. Shares of the exchange are one of the most actively traded in the unlisted space. Earlier this year, in March, NSE wrote to SEBI seeking  a No Objection Certificate (NOC) that would allow it to take further steps towards listing of its shares.

Incidentally, this is not the first time that NSE has written to SEBI for an NOC for its IPO. NSE had written to SEBI with a similar request in November 2019, twice in 2020 and thereafter in August 2024 as well.

In February, SEBI had responded to NSE’s letter seeking an NOC, highlighting certain observations on issues like technology, key management personnel (KMP), ownership of clearing corporations, and ongoing cases related to the colocation matter. NSE, while making a fresh appeal for a NOC in March, has responded to all the observations in  SEBI’s February response.

Earlier in May, the number of shareholders in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) crossed the one lakh-mark, making it one of the largest unlisted entities of the country in terms of the size of the investor base. Incidentally, many listed companies of the country also do not have such a large investor base.