NSDL IPO subscribed 15x on final day; NIIs lead the charge

NSDL’s IPO was oversubscribed 15 times on the final day, driven by strong interest from NIIs and retail investors. The grey market premium rose to Rs 937. Share allotment is on August 2, and listing is set for August 6, 2025

Mumbai: On its third and final day of public bidding on Friday, the National Securities Depository Ltd’s (NSDL) IPO attracted strong investor interest, with IPO subscriptions exceeding 15 times its offer size.

According to the NSE data, bids for approximately 54 crore shares were received in the company’s first public issue, exceeding the offer size of 3.51 crore.

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Non-institutional investors (NII) led the subscription race, overbooking their reserved section nearly 20 times. Employees booked their reserved portion nearly 10 times, while Retail Individual Investors (RII) subscribed nearly six times. QIBs subscribed to their allocated portion over three times.

According to reports, the company’s unlisted shares traded at a grey market premium (GMP) of Rs 937, more than 17 per cent over the IPO price, slightly higher than the 16 per cent GMP quoted before the IPO.

NSDL, one of the largest securities depositories in the world, launched its IPO to raise Rs 4,012 crore from the capital markets at a price band of Rs 760 to Rs 800 per share. The IPO entirely comprises an offer for sale with no fresh issue component. NSDL will not receive any proceeds from the IPO.

Investors can bid for a minimum of 18 shares, with an investment of Rs 14,400, and in multiples thereafter. At the prevailing GMP, a profit of Rs 2,268 can be expected per lot for allotted investors.

The allotments will be finalised on August 2, and the shares will be listed on August 6, 2025, making NSDL the country’s second publicly traded depository after Central Depository Services. The listing of NSDL is crucial in order to comply with SEBI’s ownership norms. These regulations require that no entity can hold more than 15 per cent of the shareholding in a depository company.

ICICI Securities, Axis Capital, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India), IDBI Capital Markets & Securities, Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors, and SBI Capital Markets are the book running lead managers to the issue.

Analysts said investors can consider long term exposure to NDSL shares. NSDL’s reliable annuity-like revenue flows, and sectoral leadership support the stock despite regulatory scrutiny and CDSL competition.

NSDL is India’s first and largest central securities depository and a capital market infrastructure institution for electronic securities settlement and custody. The issue is priced at a P/E multiple of 46.62. The company raised Rs 1,201.4 crore from 61 institutional investors via anchor book on July 29.