NSE IPO nod likely by month-end, says Sebi chief Tuhin Kanta Pandey

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Saturday said the regulator is likely to issue a no-objection certificate (NOC) for the initial public offering (IPO) of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) by the end of this month. 

 

“We will give the NOC to NSE by this month end and listing and other procedures regarding IPO should be taken care of by them," he told the media in Chennai.  The NSE has been seeking regulatory approval for its IPO for several years, following governance lapses and the co-location controversy that had come under Sebi’s scrutiny. The exchange had first filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) in December 2016, but the process was delayed amid regulatory action related to allegations of preferential access to its algorithmic trading platform

 

 

This comes after NSE's move to go for an IPO facing procedural bottlenecks fir almost ten years. The first DRHP for an IPO was filed way back in December 2016. Since then, NSE had approached the regulator for its NOC multiple times, once in 2019, twice in 2020, and again in August 2024. However, this was held up due to multiple regulatory concerns including governance lapses, and the co-location controversy..

 

In 2016, it was delayed due to regulatory action regarding allegations of preferential access to its algorithmic trading platform. The exchange has now settled several such bottlenecks including the Trading Access Point (TAP) architecture and network connectivity case by paying a penalty of Rs 643 crore. 

 

Regarding SME IPO listing and its volatility, the SEBI chief said that the regulator does not look into valuation and prices. “We are looking into disclosures which should be robust. Recently, we have changed the advertisements pattern. Earlier, it used to be difficult to decipher whether the IPO is main board or SME board as the content would be buried in the last of ads. Under new ad norms, the details are available about the extent and size of an IPO.”

 

He said that the SEBI has removed nearly 100,000 videos of ‘finfluencers’ who are giving stock tips without being registered financial advisers, adding the regulator has adopted AI model ‘Sudarshan’ to check and scan finfluencers’ videos giving stock tips on social media platforms. 

 

Speaking about the status of high-level committee (HLC) meeting to review the conflict of interest of SEBI members and officials, Pandey said, “The Board has discussed the matter in the last meeting held in December 2025 and wanted more deliberations. Some issues have been raised in terms of public disclosure broadly.”