NSE IPO: With NSE making its stock market debut at ₹1,800, a 0.84 per cent premium to its IPO price, investors now have two listed domestic stock exchanges to compare: NSE and BSE. While BSE has been listed since 2017, NSE’s listing brings the country’s two largest exchanges into direct comparison from an investment perspective.
NSE’s Red Herring Prospectus pegged BSE’s price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple at 54.28 times, while NSE’s valuation is around 42.9 times P/E. Deven 6Choksey, MD, DRChoksey FinServ, calls this a “liquidity premium”. The larger company will have relatively moderated growth, while smaller companies will have relatively higher growth rates because of the base effect, he said.

NitantDarekar, Research Analyst at Bonanza, said NSE appears better positioned over a three-to-five-year investment horizon. “On a three-to-five-year view, NSE is the better play. It earned ₹3,122 crore in Q1FY27, over 3.5 times BSE's ₹873 crore”He added, “Its options revenue still grew 15.6 per cent despite losing share, and 76.9 per cent of Indian index funds and ETFs track its Nifty indices.
BSE's 62 per cent profit growth is impressive, but its rerating rests on further share gains. I see NSE as the core holding and BSE as the higher-beta satellite.”Santosh Meena, Head of Research at Swastika Investmart, also highlighted NSE’s market position and scale.“NSE is the stronger long-term structural play due to its dominant market share (cash 93 per cent, derivatives near-monopoly), superior scale (3–4 times BSE’s revenue/PAT), deeper liquidity moat, and high margins.

“Meena also pointed to BSE’s recent growth, particularly in derivatives.“BSE has delivered faster recent growth and stock returns from a smaller base (especially derivatives share gains) but trades at a higher multiple and carries more regulatory/volume-normalisation risk.”He added, “For most investors seeking the durable franchise, NSE is preferable post-listing; growth-oriented investors may still favour BSE selectively.
Both can coexist in a portfolio.”Vinit Bolinjkar, head of research at Ventura, noted that Investors should evaluate exchange businesses based on market leadership, liquidity, revenue scalability, and regulatory sustainability. The key driver for exchanges is trading activity, particularly options premium turnover, which has become a major contributor to revenue.

NSE’s transaction charges contributed 78.65 per cent of FY26 operating revenue, with options contributing 60.22 per cent. NSE’s equity options premium ADTV stood at ₹57,662 crore in FY26 compared with ₹19,523 crore for BSE, although NSE’s market share declined from 96.86 per cent in FY24 to 74.71 per cent in FY26 due to increasing competition.
“Therefore, investors should track options premium turnover growth, market share trends, regulatory changes, and diversification into data, indices, and technology services while assessing exchange companies,” he added. The price band was fixed at ₹1,700-1,785 per share, with the issue entirely comprising an offer for sale (OFS) by existing shareholders.

No new shares were issued by NSE. The ₹22,562-crore IPO received bids for 50.58 crore shares against 8.86 crore shares on offer, resulting in an overall subscription of 5.71 times. Qualified institutional buyers subscribed 12.68 times their reserved portion, while non-institutional investors subscribed 6.55 times.
The retail portion received bids for 6.13 crore shares against 4.41 crore shares reserved, translating into a 1.39-times subscription. The NSE IPO was India’s second-largest public issue after Hyundai Motor India’s ₹27,858.75-crore IPO in 2024. BSE Ltd opened its IPO for subscription on January 23, 2017, at an offer price of ₹806 per share, with the issue size at ₹1,243.43 crore.

The stock was listed on February 3, 2017, at ₹1,085 and closed its debut session at ₹1,069.20, marking a 32.66 per cent gain over the offer price. The IPO was subscribed 35.95 times overall, with strong demand across investor categories. The stock stood at ₹1,005 one week after listing and declined to ₹890.70 after one month.
It recovered to ₹1,002.75 after three months and reached ₹1,069.60 after six months. However, by the 12-month mark, BSE shares stood at ₹849.35. This meant the stock remained above its ₹806 IPO price a year after listing, although it was below its listing-day closing price of ₹1,069.20.