SEBI set to give the nod for NSE IPO with NOC likely to be issued in a month’s time
SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey
The No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the much-anticipated listing of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) is likely to be issued as early as in a month’s time, as per SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey. “They are right now waiting for our no objection and once they get it, they have to follow other processes and go ahead with preparations…Possibly within this month we will issue it [NOC],” Pandey said in a select media round table here.
Given this statement, the IPO of NSE, which was first mooted almost a decade ago, will likely happen in 2026, as NSE CEO has said that in the past that they could complete the process in 8-9 months time from obtaining the NOC. NSE has attracted significant investor interest ahead of its expected listing and is expected to be valued at approximately ₹5-6 lakh crore. The exchange first filed its DRHP in 2016 to raise around Rs 10,000 crore, however SEBI’s approval had been pending around the co-location case and other concerns.
CoI report
With regard to the Conflict of Interest report submitted by a High Level Committee (HLC), which is currently being reviewed by the SEBI Board, Pandey said that further deliberations are being undertaken, and one aspect being discussed is the extent of the public disclosures and if it aligns with DPDP Act.
“Whatever is being proposed by HLC are doable but in some respects more thinking is required in terms of implication,” he said. “As such, disclosures is not an issue, but whether all disclosures should remain within the organization [to an internal officer] or it would be necessarily publicly disclosed…it also requires further deliberation in terms of the DPDP Act,” he said.
On SEBI’s responsibilities with regard to DPDP Act, said it is very critical for the financial sector in particular to protect personally identificable information, and SEBI is considering and deliberating on the framework it needs to put in place. “There are technologies out there, but they have to be evaluated. They should be available and they are costly, and then they have to be applied,” he said.
On increasing retail investor participation and the measures by the regulator to create more awareness, the SEBI Chief said they are working to constantly increase the investor awareness, and there is still a lot of ground to cover. “We are taking a multilingual, multimedia, and multi-agency approach. Multi-language is important because our survey shows that, for instance, 7 per cent of people, want to be told in Tamil,” he said. A perception survey also showed that different ages also want information in different modes, he adds.
Tightening the screws
SEBI chief said they are working to take an approach of a ‘surgeon knife’ rather than a ‘sledge hammer’ when it comes to the proliferation of finfluencers. “We are constantly scanning for cases where such finfluencers are crossing the line and action has been taken in more than 100,000 such cases in the last 17-18 months, and 5,000-6,000 are being taken out every month,” he said. “It’s a tedious activity but we have also developed AI tools for this with which we are able to find out where transgressions are taking place,” he added.
Regarding tightening regulations around SME IPOs, Pandey said that their focus is on disclosures and not price or valuation controls. We have recently also approved norms to simplify the IPO offer document, and called for an abridged investor-friendly version to be issued in the draft stage itself, he added.
On mutual funds, Pandey said SEBI is said to shortly notify a framework to allow performance-linked expense ratios.
Published on January 10, 2026
