NSE IPO will create a stir! Issue of Rs 30,000 crore, will there be an earthquake in the market?

As the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI for its much-awaited IPO, it could become the biggest in the history of India's capital market. The size of this issue is estimated to be around Rs 30,000 crore. Till now the discussion has mainly focused on the size of the IPO, investors selling shares and their handsome returns. But an interesting fact has also come to light in DRHP, which did not receive much attention. According to data till FY 2026, there are 5,955 companies listed on BSE, which is almost double the 2,978 companies listed on NSE. Despite this, NSE is far ahead of BSE on almost all major parameters related to business and trading.

However, the number of microcap companies on BSE is very high, due to which the gap between listed companies appears big. Most of the midcap and largecap stocks are listed on both the exchanges. The number of actively traded shares on BSE is believed to be around 4,000.

NSE's strong hold in business

According to SEBI data, NSE's share in the cash market in FY 2026 stood at 92.99%. The total turnover of the exchange stood at Rs 260.63 lakh crore, while the turnover of the entire industry was Rs 280.26 lakh crore. NSE's dominance in the equity futures segment was even greater. Here its market share was 99.79%. During this period, there was a turnover of Rs 393.82 lakh crore on NSE, while the turnover of the entire industry was Rs 394.67 lakh crore. NSE's share in equity options also stood at 74.71% on the basis of premium turnover.

ahead in daily business According to DRHP, the average daily turnover (ADTV) of NSE in the cash market in FY 2026 stood at Rs 1.06 lakh crore. In comparison, the average daily turnover of BSE was Rs 79,500 crore. Prabhudas According to Liladhar report, between FY21 to FY26, the cash market turnover of BSE registered a compound annual growth (CAGR) of 14% and that of NSE was 11%. However, despite the rapid growth, the market share of BSE remained only 7%, while NSE remained on top with 93% share.

The world's largest derivatives exchange

According to the World Federation of Exchanges, NSE remained the world's largest equity derivatives exchange in FY 2026. During this period, more than 36.99 billion contracts were traded on NSE and its international unit NSEIX. As of March 31, 2026, NSE was India's largest cash market exchange and also the world's third largest by number of cash equity trades. BSE is growing rapidly in derivatives Although NSE is still the undisputed market leader, BSE is rapidly gaining ground in the derivatives segment. According to Prabhudas Lilladher, BSE's share in index options premium turnover was 3.7% in FY24, which increased to 14.1% in FY25 and reached about 28% by the end of FY26. Similarly, BSE's share in the notional turnover of index options also reached 42.4% in FY26.

NSE also ahead in earnings and profits

NSE's revenue from operations in FY 2026 stood at Rs 16,601 crore, which is more than three times that of BSE at Rs 4,834 crore. NSE's total income was Rs 18,713 crore and net profit (PAT) was Rs 10,302 crore. Whereas the total income of BSE was Rs 5,148 crore and net profit was Rs 2,487 crore. NSE was also slightly ahead in terms of margin. Its EBITDA margin was 66.9% and PAT margin was 51%, whereas BSE's EBITDA margin was 64% and PAT margin was 48%.

Special features of NSE IPO

The proposed IPO of NSE will be completely Offer for Sale (OFS). Under this, 14.89 crore equity shares with face value of Re 1 will be sold, which is about 6% of the total paid-up capital of the company. of NSE The shares will be listed on BSE, just like BSE shares are listed on NSE. It is noteworthy that NSE had first filed DRHP for Rs 10,000 crore IPO in December 2016, but due to co-location dispute, its listing plan remained postponed for years.