According to Unlisted Zone, only those holding shares since June 15, 2025 will be eligible. Interested investors have been asked to submit an expression of interest by April 27, 2026, while the final price will be determined through a book-building process. Any shares that remain unsold in the OFS will be subject to a six-month lock-in period after listing.
The offer-for-sale route allows existing shareholders to exit fully or partially without the company issuing fresh shares. Under Sebi norms, only shares held continuously for at least one year before the draft red herring prospectus can be offered in the IPO. The NSE is expected to offload around 4% to 4.5% of its equity through this route.
The exchange has seen a sharp rise in its shareholder base over the past year, driven largely by activity in the unlisted market. The number of shareholders rose to 1,59,394 as of June 2025, from 39,201 as of March 2025, and further increased to 1,86,481 by December 2025.
This widening base has made the OFS structuring exercise more complex and time-consuming. Bloomberg had earlier reported that the OFS process could take over a month to complete, after which the exchange is likely to file its draft papers with the regulator by the end of May.
Based on prevailing unlisted market prices, the share sale could raise over Rs 20,000 crore, the Bloomberg report noted, making it one of the largest IPOs in India.
The exchange has already appointed 20 investment banks to manage the issue, exceeding previous records for bookrunners in Indian IPOs, along with eight law firms advising on various aspects of the transaction. It had also engaged Rothschild & Co. as an independent adviser to oversee the selection process for intermediaries.The issuance of the OFS notice effectively signals that the IPO process has formally begun, with timelines now contingent on completion of the shareholder participation exercise and subsequent regulatory filings.