NSE IPO

Strengths · 9

• 01The company is completely debt free. Total borrowing was nil in FY2024, FY2025 and FY2026, against a net worth of Rs 31,869.72 crore.
• 02The margin is exceptional. Profit after tax of Rs 10,302.06 crore on total income of Rs 18,713.37 crore is a PAT margin of 50.98%, with an EBITDA margin of 66.85%.
• 03Return ratios are very high, with RoCE of 42.80% and RoNW of 33.21%.
• 04It is the largest stock exchange in India and has held the leading position in cash market turnover, equity derivatives and currency derivatives.
• 05The scale is enormous, with over 253 million registered investor accounts, 129 million unique investors, 2,978 listed companies and about Rs 411 trillion of listed market capitalisation as on 31 March 2026.
• 06It earns across the whole chain, from trading and clearing to settlement, listing fees, market data and index services, so it is not dependent on one revenue line.
• 07Running an exchange needs a licence from SEBI and enormous technology and surveillance infrastructure, which makes it close to impossible for a new competitor to replicate.
• 08Reach extends to more than 99% of Indian postal codes, and Rs 20.3 trillion was raised on its platform during FY2026.
• 09Employees get a discount of Rs 170 per share on the issue price, and the lot size is small at 8 shares, which keeps the retail application amount modest despite the high share price.

Risks · 9

• 01Profit fell sharply in the latest year. Profit after tax came down 15% from Rs 12,187.69 crore in FY2025 to Rs 10,302.06 crore in FY2026, and total income also fell from Rs 19,176.83 crore to Rs 18,713.37 crore.
• 02The entire issue is an offer for sale of Rs 26,579.64 crore. Not a single rupee comes to the exchange itself, and all of it goes to the selling shareholders.
• 03Earnings depend directly on market turnover. A prolonged fall in trading volumes, particularly in derivatives, would cut revenue with no cost offset.
• 04This is a heavily regulated business. SEBI decisions on derivative lot sizes, expiry frequency and transaction charges directly change how much the exchange earns, and such rules have been tightened in recent years.
• 05A large share of income comes from the derivatives segment, so any regulatory or behavioural shift away from derivatives trading has an outsized effect.
• 06No promoter is named in the data available to us and the pre-issue promoter holding is shown as not applicable, so there is no promoter group standing behind the company.
• 07Exchanges attract regulatory scrutiny and litigation as a matter of course, and any adverse finding carries both financial and reputational cost.
• 08Total assets grew from Rs 69,466.64 crore to Rs 87,937.44 crore while profit fell, so the additional capital employed has not yet translated into earnings.
• 09At the upper band of Rs 1,785 the P/E works out to about 35.4 times on a post issue EPS of Rs 50.43, which values the exchange at about Rs 4,41,787.50 crore even as its profit is falling.

National Stock Exchange of India Limited, known as NSE, was set up in November 1992. It is India's largest stock exchange and one of the leading multi-asset exchanges in the world.

It runs what is called a vertically integrated ecosystem, which means it handles the whole chain rather than one part of it. This covers trading, clearing, settlement, listing of companies, market data, index services and regulatory oversight, across equities, derivatives, currency derivatives, commodities, debt securities and mutual funds. It has held the leading position in India in cash market turnover, in equity derivatives and in currency derivatives.

As on 31 March 2026 the exchange had more than 253 million registered investor accounts and 129 million unique investors, 1,325 trading members and 2,978 listed companies, with total listed market capitalisation of about Rs 411 trillion. During FY2026 more than Rs 20.3 trillion was raised through its platform. It runs on a large technology setup that handles high frequency trading, live market data, risk management, surveillance and compliance, and it reaches more than 99% of Indian postal codes. As on 31 March 2026 it had 1,974 full time employees, with another 907 employed across its subsidiaries.

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