Life Insurance Corp. of India Ltd. was the biggest bidder in National Stock Exchange of India Ltd.’s initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter, highlighting strong demand from local long-term institutional investors even as retail participation remained subdued.
The state-owned insurer placed bids worth about 45 billion rupees ($470 million), the people said, asking not to be identified as the details aren’t public. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co. and Quant Mutual Fund submitted bids of about 20 billion rupees ($209 million) each, while Norges Bank Investment Management and Mirae Asset Mutual Fund sought roughly 10 billion rupees each, the people said.
A representative for Norges Bank Investment Management declined to comment, while NSE, LIC and the other funds didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The bidding pattern underscores a divide in investor appetite for one of India’s most anticipated listings. Large, long-only institutions were among the biggest bidders, signaling their confidence in NSE’s longer-term growth prospects despite concerns over slowing derivatives trading and a valuation that remains elevated compared with some global exchange operators.
Retail investors were more cautious. Their portion of the $2.4 billion IPO was subscribed 1.3 times, while qualified institutional buyers — typically wealthy individuals — bid for about 12.7 times the shares reserved for them. Overall, the offering was subscribed 5.7 times.
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Goldman, GIC Among Buyers in NSE’s $703 Million Anchor Book
NSE’s outlook has come under greater scrutiny after regulators tightened rules aimed at curbing excessive speculation in India’s derivatives market. That’s particularly important for the exchange because transaction fees from options trading accounted for more than 60% of operating revenue in fiscal 2026.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management, HSBC, Fidelity, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Eastspring were among the major investors that participated in NSE’s anchor book. Bankers allocated 37.79 million shares to anchor investors at 1,785 rupees apiece, the top end of the marketed range, raising 67.46 billion rupees.
NSE priced the IPO at 1,785 rupees a share, valuing the exchange at about 43 times fiscal 2026 earnings. The offering was entirely a sale by existing shareholders, meaning NSE itself received no proceeds.
The shares are set to begin trading on BSE on Sept. 24, putting the focus on whether strong institutional conviction can offset more cautious sentiment among individual investors.
