Who Is Making Money From the NSE IPO and Why Is It Only an OFS?

The NSE IPO has become one of the biggest talking points in the market, with investors focused on its ₹1,785 price, ₹22,568.94 crore issue size, valuation, and expected listing. But there is another side to the IPO. As an Offer for Sale (OFS), the proceeds from the shares being sold will go to existing shareholders, not to NSE.

So the more interesting question is: who is actually making money from the IPO, and what did they pay for the shares they are now selling at ₹1,785? Some early institutional shareholders have acquisition costs below ₹1 per share, while later investors entered at much higher prices.

This analysis assumes a final IPO price of ₹1,785, the upper end of the price band. If the final price differs, the value and return figures will change accordingly.

Who Is Making the Most From the IPO?

Here are the 10 largest shareholders selling shares in the OFS, along with what they paid for those shares and what those shares are worth at ₹1,785.

Source: NSE RHP, internal calculation | Returns show how many times ₹1,785 is compared with the shareholder's average buying price. They are before taxes and transaction costs and do not account for the holding period.

SBI is the biggest seller in the OFS, offering shares worth ₹2,850.54 crore. Its average buying price of just ₹0.80 per share means ₹1,785 is equivalent to 2,231.3 times what it paid.

The difference is even more striking for New India Assurance. It is selling shares worth ₹1,874.25 crore, while its average buying price was only ₹0.32 per share. At ₹1,785, that works out to 5,578.1 times its buying price.

Meanwhile, CPPIB is selling shares worth ₹2,119.52 crore, but its average buying price of ₹324.13 translates into a much lower 5.5x return.

The Big Difference: What Did They Pay?

The biggest takeaway from the table is the huge gap in what different shareholders paid for their NSE shares.

Several large domestic institutional shareholders have average buying prices of less than ₹1 per share. New India Assurance paid ₹0.32, SBI Capital Markets ₹0.38, Bank of Baroda ₹0.54, and United India Insurance ₹0.50.

That is why their returns at ₹1,785 run into thousands of times their original buying price.

SBI has the largest sale among these shareholders, but its 2,231.3x return is lower than that of several others because its ₹0.80 buying price is higher than theirs.

The picture is very different for investors that bought their shares at higher prices. CPPIB's ₹324.13 buying price translates into 5.5x, while Aranda Investments and MS Strategic, with buying prices of ₹62.38 and ₹66.54, are looking at 28.6x and 26.8x respectively.

So the same ₹1,785 IPO price produces very different outcomes depending on when and at what price the shares were bought.

Who Is Realising the Biggest Gains?

There are three different ways to look at the OFS.

• Largest share sale: SBI, with approximately 1.60 crore shares.
• Largest value being sold: SBI, with approximately ₹2,850.54 crore at ₹1,785.
• Highest return among these 10 shareholders: New India Assurance, at approximately 5,578.1x its average buying price.

These are different measures. A shareholder can sell a large number of shares without having the highest return, while a very low buying price can create a huge return even on a smaller sale.

But Why Is NSE Raising No Fresh Capital?

There is one obvious question left: if the NSE IPO is worth ₹22,568.94 crore at ₹1,785 per share, why is NSE itself not raising any of that money? Is the IPO simply giving existing shareholders a chance to sell their shares?

The answer becomes clearer when we look at NSE's financial position.

As of June 30, 2026, NSE had ₹35,244.23 crore in net worth, ₹68,198.04 crore in surplus investments, and generated ₹23,836.18 crore in cash from its business in FY26. It also had no borrowings.

In simple terms, NSE already has a large amount of money and investments, while its business is generating strong cash. It therefore does not appear to have a pressing need to raise thousands of crores through new shares.

That helps explain why the IPO is entirely an OFS. Existing shareholders get a way to sell part of their holdings to public investors, while NSE itself does not receive the money from those sales.

So, yes, existing shareholders are cashing out. But the IPO is not being used to raise money for NSE's day-to-day business or expansion.

What Does This Actually Tell Us?

The NSE IPO tells two different stories.

For existing shareholders, it shows how differently returns can look depending on when and at what price they bought their shares. Some early investors are selling at thousands of times their original buying price, while later investors are seeing much smaller returns.

For NSE itself, the all-OFS structure means the company is not raising fresh money from the IPO. With substantial money and investments already on its books, the IPO mainly gives existing shareholders a way to sell part of their holdings to public investors.

But these huge returns do not tell us whether ₹1,785 is a good or bad valuation for NSE. What shareholders paid in the past does not tell us what the business is worth today.

For investors, the bigger question is therefore not how much the sellers are making, but whether NSE's business and financial strength justify the valuation at which it is entering the public market.