The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has filed the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI for its much-awaited IPO. With this, it is set to become the largest IPO in the history of India’s capital market. The size of this issue is estimated to be around ₹30,000 crore.
So far, discussions have mainly focused on the size of the IPO, the amount of shares being sold by investors and the handsome returns it could generate. However, the DRHP also revealed something interesting that went largely unnoticed: As of FY26, there were 5,955 companies listed on the BSE – almost double the number of 2,978 companies listed on the NSE. Despite this, NSE is far ahead of BSE in almost all key business and trading metrics.
However, the large number of micro-cap companies listed on BSE is the reason for this large difference in the total number of listed companies. In contrast, most mid-cap and large-cap stocks are listed on both exchanges. The number of actively traded shares on BSE is estimated to be around 4,000.
NSE has a strong hold on trading
According to SEBI data, NSE’s market share in the cash market during the financial year 2026 was 92.99%. The exchange recorded a total turnover of ₹260.63 lakh crore, while the turnover of the entire industry stood at ₹280.26 lakh crore.
NSE’s dominance was even more evident in the equity futures segment, where it had a market share of 99.79%. During this period, NSE recorded a turnover of ₹393.82 lakh crore, while the turnover of the entire industry stood at ₹394.67 lakh crore. In the equity options segment, NSE’s market share based on premium turnover was 74.71%.
Leader in daily trading also
According to DRHP, the average daily turnover (ADTV) of NSE in the cash market during FY26 was ₹1.06 lakh crore. In comparison, BSE’s average daily turnover was ₹79,500 crore. According to a report by Prabhudas Lilladher, BSE recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14% in cash market turnover between FY21 and FY26, while NSE recorded a growth of 11%. Despite such rapid growth, BSE’s market share remained only 7%, while NSE maintained its dominance 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 FY26. During this period, more than Rs 36.99 billion contracts were traded on the NSE and its international arm, NSEIX. As of 31 March 2026, NSE was India’s largest cash market exchange and the world’s third largest in terms of number of cash equity trades.
**BSE is increasing rapidly in derivatives**
While NSE remains 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; This increased to 14.1% in FY25 and reached around 28% by the end of FY26. Similarly, BSE’s share in index options notional turnover reached 42.4% in FY26.
**NSE ahead in revenue and profit**
In FY26, NSE’s revenue from operations was ₹16,601 crore – three times more than BSE’s revenue of ₹4,834 crore. NSE’s total revenue was ₹18,713 crore, and net profit (PAT) was ₹10,302 crore. In contrast, BSE’s total revenue was ₹5,148 crore, and its net profit was ₹2,487 crore. NSE also has a slight edge in terms of margin. Its EBITDA margin was 66.9% and PAT margin was 51%, while BSE’s EBITDA margin was 64% and PAT margin was 48%.
Highlights of NSE IPO
The proposed NSE IPO will be a pure ‘Offer for Sale’ (OFS). Under this, 14.89 crore equity shares with a face value of ₹1 will be sold – which is about 6% of the total paid-up capital of the company. NSE shares will be listed on BSE, just like BSE shares are listed on NSE. It is noteworthy that NSE had first filed the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for a ₹10,000 crore IPO in December 2016, but its listing plan was delayed by several years due to the co-location dispute.
