NSE IPO opens today: 10 key reasons to subscribe | What top brokerage houses say

NSE IPO reviews: A host of brokerage firms have shared their positive views on the initial public offering (IPO) of the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), which opens for subscription on Thursday, September 17. In a nutshell, analysts remain broadly positive citing NSE's dominant market share, strong competitive moat, vertically integrated business model and high operating margins.

NSE IPO details
NSE is selling its shares in the range of Rs 1,700-1,785 per share with a lot size of 8 shares. The company is raising up to Rs 22,562 crore from its IPO, which is entirely an offer-for-sale (OFS) by its existing selling shareholders. NSE will not receive any proceeds from the issue as entire net funds raised shall go to the selling shareholders. The issue closes on Monday, September 21.

NSE has reserved shares worth Rs 70 crore for its eligible employees, who will get a discount of Rs 170 per share in the issue. It has reserved 50 per cent of the net offer for qualified institutional bidders (QIBs), while retail investors and non-institutional investors will get a net allocation of 35 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively. At the upper end, it commands a total market capitalization of Rs 4.42 lakh crore.

NSE: Business & Financials
Incorporated in 1992, National Stock Exchange of India is India's largest stock exchange and one of the world's leading multi-asset exchange platforms. It provides a vertically integrated ecosystem comprising trading, clearing, settlement, listing, market data, index services, and regulatory oversight across multiple asset classes, including equities, derivatives, currency derivatives, commodities, debt securities, and mutual funds.

For the quarter ended on June 30, 2026, NSE reported a net profit at Rs 3,120.08 crore with a total income of Rs 5,252.17 crore. The company clocked a bottomline of Rs 10,302.06 crore with a net profit at Rs 18,713.37 crore for the financial year ended on March 31, 2026. Its PAT margins stood at 58.78 per cent as of Q1FY27, while RoE and RoCE stood at 32.98 per cent and 42.80 per cent as of FY26.

Anchor investors
Ahead of its IPO, NSE raised Rs 6,746.18 crore from 189 anchor investors as it allocated 3,7793,739 equity shares at Rs 1,785 apiece. A total of 98 mutual fund schemes and 27 life insurance companies participated in the anchor book.  Market sources said demand for shares in the anchor portion was nearly Rs 1.2 lakh crore, or about 20 times the anchor book size.

NSE's anchor book included overseas names like GIC Singapore, ADIA, Norges Bank, Fidelity, GSAM, Eastspring, BofA Securities Europe, Societe Generale and HSBC GAM. Domestic institutions like LIC, SBI MF, ICICI Pru MF, HDFC MF, Nippon MF, Axis MF, Aditya Birla MF, Kotak MF, UTI MF, Mirae MF, Tata MF, Edelweiss MF, HSBC MF and LIC MF, HDFC Life, SBI Life and SBI General were among the anchors.

NSE IPO: Top 10 positives from brokerages
A number of brokerage firms have shared their views on NSE IPO. Here are the top 10 reasons cited by them:

1. Dominant market position: NSE commands about 93 per cent share in cash equities and 99.8 per cent in equity futures.

2. Strong competitive moat: Deep liquidity, network effects, technology infrastructure and regulatory barriers make the exchange difficult to challenge.

3. Vertically integrated ecosystem: Trading, clearing, settlement, indices, market data, connectivity and licensing provide multiple revenue streams from the same ecosystem.

4. High operating leverage: The largely fixed-cost nature of the business supports strong margins as trading volumes grow.

5. Debt-free/strong balance sheet: Brokerages highlighted NSE's negligible conventional debt and robust cash generation.

6. Strong cash generation: NSE has demonstrated robust cash-generation capabilities, with Rs 23,836 crore of operating cash flow in FY26 and Rs 32,312 crore of cash.

7. Valuation versus BSE: Several brokerages noted that NSE's IPO valuation is at a discount to BSE, despite NSE's significantly larger scale, profitability and market share.

8. Long-term financialization opportunity: Rising household participation in equities, increasing financial savings, mutual funds, passive investing and greater capital-market penetration could support long-term growth.

9. Strong investor and market ecosystem: NSE has a large and expanding investor base, trading-member network and listed-company universe, strengthening its liquidity, network effects and overall market relevance.

10. Multiple avenues for future monetisation: Brokerages see potential from new asset classes and businesses, including electricity, natural gas, coal, indices, data services, technology and other market-infrastructure offerings.

Brokerage firms ratings
Brokerage firms including YES Securities, Choice Broking, Swastika Investmart, BP Equities, Sushil Finance, KC Securities, Angel One, SMIFS, Ventura Securities, Geojit Financial Services and Master Capital Services have suggested to subscribe to the issue, while  Chola Securities and Religare Broking have assigned a 'neutral' rating on it.

NSE IPO GMP, BRLM and registrar
NSE had appointed 19 global and domestic bankers to manage its issue, while MUFG Intime India is the registrar of the issue. Last heard, NSE was commanding a grey market premium (GMP) of 145-160 apiece, suggesting a 8-9 per cent listing gain for the investors. Shares of NSE will be listed on BSE Ltd only.

Its BRLMs include names like Kotak Mahindra Capital, JM Financial, Morgan Stanley India, Citigroup Global Markets India, JP Morgan India, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India), Anand Rathi Advisors, Avendus Capital, DAM Capital, Axis Capital, HDFC Bank Ltd, Equirus Capital, ICICI Securities, IDBI Capital Markets, IIFL Capital Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors, Nuvama Wealth Management, Pantomath Capital Advisors and 360 One WAM.