National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. has lowered the price range for its long-awaited initial public offering and may shrink the stake on sale, according to people familiar with the matter, leaving the deal poised to fall short of becoming India’s biggest-ever listing.
The exchange is likely to price its shares at Rs 1,700 to Rs 1,785 apiece, below an earlier marketed range of Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,100, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. It may also reduce the stake being offered to about 5.5% of the total equity capital from the originally planned 6%, after some shareholders backed out of selling their stakes at the lower price, they said.
At the top of the proposed range, the sale of a 5.5% stake would raise about Rs 24,300 crore, below the Rs 27,900 crore raised by Hyundai Motor India Ltd in 2024 in the country’s largest-ever IPO. That would value NSE at as much as Rs 4.42 lakh crore, compared with a previously targeted a valuation of as much as Rs 5.26 lakh crore.
NSE’s decision to downsize the deal reflects unease over its valuation as growth slows and regulators step up scrutiny of stock-market activity. Options trading, a key driver of the exchange’s success, has come under particular pressure, with the government doubling the transaction tax on some derivatives and proposing a higher short-term capital gains tax.
Also denting the sentiment around the industry, Indian stocks have been chronic underperformers. The benchmark Nifty 50 index is down 10% this year, compared with a 25% gain in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.