NSE sticks to IPO plan to give shareholders exit options

The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) will adhere to its plan of going public early next year so that it can give shareholders an opportunity to exit, according to its chief executive officer.

NSE, the nation's biggest equities bourse, has set up a panel to help with the plan to file an offer document with the regulator for listing domestically by January, CEO Chitra Ramkrishna said. Investors-including Tiger Global Five Holding, Norwest Venture Partners X FII - Mauritius and State Bank of India-have urged the bourse to speed up plans to list.

"We've figured that we have set ourselves an aggressive timeline for listing and that we have a lot of work to do," she said in an interview at her office. "We want our stakeholders to monetise value and get a transparent price. That's our prime consideration."

The company is also pushing ahead with its aim of a listing abroad. That will help enhance NSE's profile and expand its global reach, Ramkrishna said, without giving details. The bourse is likely to sell shares locally and list depository receipts tied to those shares abroad, Chokkalingam G, managing director at Equinomics Research & Advisory Pvt in Mumbai, said by phone.

A stocks rally that has pushed the S&P BSE Sensex to near a one-year high is driving a boom in the nation's IPO market. Twenty one first-time sales raised Rs 4,940 crore ($735 million) in the quarter ended June, more than in any comparable period since 2010, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Eighteen offerings seeking Rs 6,100 crore have been approved by the regulator, according to Delhi-based Prime Database.