National Stock Exchange of India

The Ticker Tales take

The National Stock Exchange is the venue most Indian shares and almost all equity derivatives actually trade on, and it earns a toll on that flow — which is why its unlisted shares have been among the most sought-after in the country for years. Because an exchange cannot list on itself, NSE's shares will trade on the BSE. Bidding ran from 17 to 21 September at a band of ₹1,700–1,785 a share with a lot of 8 shares, with listing planned for 24 September. The whole issue is an offer for sale of up to 12.64 crore shares, trimmed from the 14.9 crore originally planned, so at roughly ₹21,500–22,600 crore the money goes to selling shareholders such as SBI and Bank of Baroda, not to NSE itself. Day one drew close to 12 lakh applications and closed only 0.31 times covered, and the book stayed muted over the weekend before demand accelerated hard on the final day to close 5.70 times covered, with institutions at 12.7 times, big-ticket investors at 6.5 times and retail lagging at 1.3 times. The grey market premium firmed too, ending around ₹70, close to 4% over the top of the band. We expected a flat, unexciting debut, so this stayed Neutral. It listed on 24 September at ₹1,800 on the BSE, up 0.8%, then held firm through the day to close at ₹1,817, up 1.8%. A clean call: the flat, unexciting debut we expected is almost exactly what happened.