Kathmandu: The only front liner in the stock market is the Nepal Stock Exchange which is fully government-owned. The National Stock Exchange (NSE), India’s largest stock exchange, is going to launch an IPO soon at a time when the government is pressuring the Securities Board of Nepal to bring a new stock exchange in a small country like Nepal.
The Government of Nepal has suggested that nepse should be restructured and strengthened by developing technical and infrastructure. Nepse had submitted a report to the Ministry of Finance about one and a half to two years ago with the opinion that NEPSE should be restructured, 30 percent IPO should be issued to the public and foreign partners should be brought in. However, no one knows where the report went missing.
Meanwhile, NSE, India’s largest stock exchange, is likely to get a green signal from market regulator Sebi soon to bring an IPO. If this happens, it could be India’s largest IPO.
Sebi Chairman Tuhin Kant Pandey indicated this on Thursday. He said that all the issues related to NSE’s IPO will be resolved soon. “All I can say is that all the remaining issues will be resolved and we will move forward,” he said, “I can’t tell you the time but I think we should do it soon.” ’
Pandey said the regulator and NSE are working together to address the concerns. He also informed that instructions regarding the expiry date will be issued this month after the comments received in the consultation paper.
With over 100,000 shareholders, NSE has become India’s largest unlisted company in terms of number of investors. Reuters reported earlier this month that NSE had sought the finance ministry’s intervention in the long-standing standoff with Sebi over the IPO. In March, the exchange had written to the ministry after the regulator did not approve its latest application for a No Objection Certificate (NOC).
NSE had earlier made similar requests in November 2019, twice in 2020 and then in August 2024. The NSE, however, refused to seek intervention from the Finance Ministry.
Meanwhile, NSE Managing Director and CEO Ashish Kumar Chauhan met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Delhi on Wednesday. Pandey, who took over as Sebi chairman in March, had earlier said that while the regulator was working to resolve the problems surrounding NSE’s public offering, commercial interests would not be allowed to prevail over the public interest. One of Sebi’s major concerns is the weakness of good governance in the exchanges. This includes a delay in the appointment of a chairman to its board.
In a letter to the finance ministry, NSE has rejected these concerns and accused Sebi of delaying the approval of the recommended candidate in 2022.
NSE wants to bring the IPO to increase transparency and accountability, not to find out the price. “The IPO will increase transparency and accountability. Our valuation in the unlisted market is around Rs 4.75 lakh crore and as India’s largest exchange, we should be accountable to the market,” NSE Chief Trade Development Officer Sriram Krishnan said. ’
