NSE IPO: SEBI has certain apprehensions, says Ashishkumar Chauhan

Ashishkumar Chauhan

While the Street patiently waits for the initial public offering of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), its top boss Ashishkumar Chauhan has said that the market regulator still has 'certain apprehensions'. On the sidelines of an event hosted by Business Today, Chauhan said, "As you are all aware, there were issues at NSE. And, SEBI has certain apprehensions about us meeting its expectations."

"Going ahead, as the number of investors in India doubles or triples from 7.5 crore currently, SEBI needs to have confidence in our processes, technology and intentions. As and when SEBI becomes more comfortable, they will tell us to apply (for IPO) and we will go ahead," he added.

The listing of NSE has been delayed by several years after the exchange got embroiled in corporate governance issues, ranging from its former executive’s role in the 2015 co-location scam to issues with respect to multiple technological failures.

In 2021, NSE had to halt trading for several hours after its mainframe and disaster recovery sites malfunctioned, leading to intense scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

"Doing an IPO is a great thing as it improves the corporate governance of a company... That's why public companies like ours should be listed," Chauhan said. "As and when the regulator feels comfortable, we will go ahead," he reiterated.

For the quarter ended June 2023, NSE reported a net profit of Rs 1,844 crore on a consolidated basis, up by 9 percent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis. The exchange's consolidated income from operations came in at Rs 2,987 crore for Q1 FY 24, up by 13 percent YoY.

On the trading volumes front, cash markets recorded an average daily traded volumes (ADTVs) of Rs 58,593 crores, up 4 percent YoY. Meanwhile, equity futures clocked an ADTV of Rs 1,04,056 crores, down 13 percent YoY and equity options (premium value) ADTVs stood at Rs 54,210 crore, up 33 percent YoY.