The National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) is India's principal stock exchange, operating cash equity trading, equity and index derivatives (futures and options), currency derivatives, and debt instruments including treasury bills and state development loans. It was incorporated in 1992 by a group of domestic financial institutions, including the State Bank of India and ICICI Bank, and commenced trading on 30 June 1994 with its debt segment, followed by cash equities that November. NSE introduced the National Exchange for Automated Trading (NEAT) system, making it the first exchange in India to offer fully electronic trading, at a time when its main domestic rival, the Bombay Stock Exchange, still ran an open outcry floor. NSE's defining characteristic is its dominance in Indian index derivatives, particularly weekly expiry options on its flagship Nifty 50 and Bank Nifty indices, which draw very high retail participation and generate a contract count that is large relative to notional turnover. That volume is what makes NSE, by number of contracts traded, the world's largest derivatives exchange: the Futures Industry Association's 2023 survey recorded 84.8 billion contracts on NSE, up from 38.1 billion in 2022. Domestically, NSE holds a heavily dominant market share against its main rival BSE in both cash equities and equity derivatives turnover. It also runs GIFT Nifty, launched in July 2023 at Gujarat's GIFT City international finance centre as successor to the former Singapore listed SGX Nifty, extending Nifty derivatives to near round the clock trading for international investors. NSE is not itself publicly listed. As of March 2025, ownership was split between public sector financial institutions, LIC (around 10.7 percent) and SBI (around 3.23 percent) the largest among them, and private investors that have included Temasek Holdings, PremjiInvest and Morgan Stanley. Ashishkumar (Ashish) Chauhan has served as Managing Director and CEO since July 2022. As of December 2024 the exchange listed roughly 2,671 companies with a combined market capitalisation of about Rs 438 lakh crore (roughly 4.6 trillion dollars), and counted more than 11 crore (110 million) registered investors. NSE first attempted its own public listing in 2016, but the process stalled for years over a regulatory dispute concerning preferential co-location and dark fibre access for certain trading members; that matter was later settled with SEBI. NSE's IPO effort restarted in 2026. SEBI issued a no objection certificate on 30 January 2026, NSE's board approved the listing plan on 6 February, and the exchange filed its draft red herring prospectus with SEBI on 17 June 2026. The filing covers a wholly offer for sale of roughly 148.9 million shares, about 6 percent of the company, sized at approximately Rs 30,000 crore, which press coverage has described as likely to be India's largest ever public issue. Because an exchange cannot list its own shares on itself, NSE has proposed listing on BSE instead, subject to regulatory approval, with global investor roadshows slated to begin in mid July 2026 and a listing targeted before the end of the year.
