Temasek, LIC poised to plan share sales in NSE's long-awaited IPO

By Rajesh Mascarenhas

 

Temasek Holdings Pte. and Life Insurance Corporation of India Ltd. are likely to be key sellers in the potential $2.5 billion initial public offering of India’s top bourse, the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd., according to a person familiar with the matter.

 

State Bank of India Ltd. and SBI Capital Markets Ltd. are also likely to participate as sellers in the long-awaited IPO, which is expected to consist solely of existing shareholders offering between 4 per cent and 4.5 per cent of the company’s equity, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.

 

All 190,000 shareholders of the exchange will be given the option to participate in the secondary sale as part of the IPO, the person said.

 

LIC holds a 10.72 per cent stake in NSE and Temasek has about 4.5 per cent, according to data published on the exchange’s website. SBI Capital  also held roughly 4.5 per cent as of Dec. 31, 2025, while SBI’s stake is about 3.2 per cent, the data show.

 

NSE’s board is likely to form a committee comprising its top executives and the representatives of major shareholders including LIC and SBI in a few days to oversee the IPO process, the person said. The board is scheduled to meet on Feb. 6 to approve the financial results for the quarter ended December 2025 and is also likely to decide on the formation of the committee.  

 

Shares of NSE are trading at about ₹2,150 in the unlisted market, according to Incredmoney.com, implying a valuation of about ₹5.3 trillion ($58 billion), making it the world’s fourth-most valuable exchange among listed peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 

 

The committee’s mandate is expected to include assisting the board in appointing investment bankers, negotiating fees, determining the amount of shares to be sold by existing investors, and filing the draft prospectus. The exchange is targeting a timeline of about three months for the filing, the person added.

 

Deliberations are ongoing and key details could still change, the person said. Spokespeople for NSE, LIC, SBI, and SBI Capital Market didn’t respond to requests for comment. Temasek declined to comment.

 

On Friday, NSE said it had received regulatory clearance to begin preparations for an IPO. The approval comes nearly a decade after it first filed for a listing in 2016, a plan that stalled following allegations of corporate governance lapses and unfair market access raised by the Securities and Exchange Board of India. NSE subsequently filed two settlement applications related to the case, proposing to pay close to ₹1,300 crore.