National Stock Exchange's IPO to take a few months: Sebi Chief Ajay Tyagi

NSE filed its draft papers with Sebi in December to raise an estimated over Rs 10,000 crore

The initial public offering of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) will take "a few months" as co-location issues need to be sorted out, Sebi chief Ajay Tyagi said today.

NSE, which filed its draft papers with regulator Sebi in December to raise an estimated over Rs 10,000 crore through the IPO, is awaiting for the regulator's go-ahead.

"They (NSE) have come to conclusion and rightly so... that co-location issue needs to be sorted out before they go for IPO that will take some time... A few months. It could be a few months, it is not happening immediately," Tyagi told reporters here.

The offer may give the exchange a valuation of Rs 50,000 -55,000 crore, officials said, adding that the IPO itself could be worth about Rs 10,000 crore.

The IPO will see existing shareholders offloading 20-25 per cent shares to the public through the offer for sale (OFS) route.

Co-location in market parlance refers to brokers locating their servers on the premises of the exchange. This reduces the time for an order and provides speed advantage over those who are farther away from the premises.

The bourse is facing regulatory scrutiny for allegedly providing preferential access to some entities with respect to co-location facilities.

Following complaints about co-location facility of the exchange, a Sebi-appointed committee had initiated an examination and found instances of breach of fair access norms by the exchange. It also noted that the NSE provided unfair preferential treatment to some brokers.