NSE slashes transaction charges for cash, derivatives segments by 1%

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has slashed transaction charges for cash equity and derivatives segments by 1%. The new charges will come into effect from April 1.

The decision was taken by the NSE’s board of directors at its meeting on Monday, March 11. The move is expected to impact the stock exchange's overall revenue from transaction charges by ₹130 crore per annum.

Previously, NSE had rolled back the decision to hike the transaction charged in the equity and derivatives segment by 6% in March last year. The hiked charges were introduced in January 2023 to augment the investor protector trust fund corpus due to broker defaults back then.

The NSE board in its March 11 meeting also announced its exit from non-core businesses including education and technology. The exchange's divestment efforts have seen interest from more than 60 parties so far.

NSE received 7 non-binding bids which narrowed down to two after due diligence. The 2 bidders entered into negotiation with the exchange. Avendus is serving as the transaction adviser, supported by Deloitte for Finance and Tax diligence and tax advisory, and Indus Law as the legal advisor.

The sale transaction is expected to be completed by March 31.

NSE's wholly-owned subsidiary NSEIT is selling its technology business to US-based Investcorp. The said transaction also involving the sale of NSEIT's subsidiaries –NSEIT US, Aujas Cybersecurity Limited, and CXIO Technologies Limited— is being carried out at a total agreed value of ₹1,000 crores.

The company's standalone business consists of two segments -- digital examination business and digital technology business. Investcorp will be acquiring only the digital technology business presently. Since the digital technology business is only a segment and not distinct entity the divestment will be completed through a slump sale.