Expect NSE IPO in 9-10 months after getting SEBI's NOC, says CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) is awaiting market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) no-objection certificate (NOC) to go ahead and prepare its draft red-herring prospectus for its much-awaited share sale via initial public offering (IPO), NSE's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ashishkumar Chauhan told Upstox in an exclusive interview.

"NSE is awaiting SEBI's no objection certificate for preparing its DRHP. Once it is allowed by SEBI, NSE will prepare its DRHP and it will take at least 4-5 months for preparing DRHP and then it will submit to SEBI for scrutiny of the DRHP which again takes 3-4 months before completion of the process. So after NOC is received it will probably take 9-10 months for the IPO to potentially take place," Chauhan told Upstox.

Commenting on the SEBI's proposal to curb speculative trading in futures and options segment, Chauhan said that NSE's main role is to act as a front-end regulator.

"Broadly speaking there is a perception and a reality which says that small investors are losing money and because of that SEBI and government has to take specific actions and NSE will fully comply with all the regulations that come out," Chauhan said.

Highlighting the resilience of Indian equity markets amid times of global uncertainty, Chauhan said that Indian markets have fared very well over the last 6-7 months since the volatility started due to tariffs.

"I think the future is going to be much brighter than what has been there in the last few months... I have no doubt that broadly all the uncertainties will be broadly gone," Chauhan said.

Commenting on the rising investor base and growing clout of the Indian middle class, Chauhan noted that despite equities being a riskier asset class, the number of investors coming in markets are increasing consistently and highlighted that as India grows that number will go up only.

"When society becomes more middle class, more people have disposable wealth which they want to invest into various asset classes and equities become slightly riskier asset classes and they come last in the pecking order and that is where the number of investors have increased almost 7 times in the last 10 years. It shows you the increasing size of the Indian middle class... literally 25% of all households are investing in the stock market through NSE and that is a heartening thing. Naturally once India grows further you will see an even much greater number of people coming into the stock market," Chauhan said.

Commenting on challenges posed by AI, Chauhan said that NSE had the first successful new generation order matching system in the world in 1994 when it was set up.

"NSE was the first fintech of India, it was the first public digital infrastructure of India and in many ways NSE has been pioneer of technology and automation in the world and it will continue to be at the cutting edge of technology be it AI or analytics or in any other way," Chauhan added.

While the exchange awaits SEBI’s clearance for its landmark IPO, its focus remains on strengthening market integrity, embracing technological innovation and expanding financial participation among India’s growing middle class.