NSDL unlisted shares rally 50% in 2 months amid IPO buzz; NSE among key selling shareholders

Unlisted shares of National Securities Depository (NSDL) are soaring higher in the pre-IPO market amid the rising buzzing of its upcoming IPO, which is said to be launched in the second quarter of the ongoing financial year. The stock prices have seen a substantial 50 per cent upside in the last two months.

According to the dealers from the unlisted market, shares of NSDL have jumped to Rs 1,200-1,225 mark amid the IPO buzz. The stock was trading around Rs 800-850 mark in early April, before the stock was freezed for free-transfer, like National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) shares. They see NDLs IPO price band around Rs 750-850.

Sandip Ginodia, CEO of Kolkata-based Altius Investech said that the new ISIN has led to free transfer and trade of NSDL shares, triggering a rise in its demand. Also, the news around its initial public offering (IPO) approval has added to the rising retail frenzy in the company, he notes.

"NSDL and CDSL make a duopoly in the market depository landscape. NSDL belongs to an assured business and assured growth sector, which adds to the optimism for it. As the financial asset market expands in India, NSDL is bound to grow. Besides this, there are no issues with corporate management or parentage."

Echoing the similar tone, Hitesh Dharawat of Mumbai-based Dharawat Securities said that NSDL has a strong hold on institutional investors, while CDSL has an advantage in the retail segment. "The stock is slightly overvalued at current levels but the recent rise in CDSL prices and market infrastructure theme is attracting investors with a long term horizon, say 3-5 years," he said.

The much-awaited IPO of the NSDL is expected later this year. It is one of the marquee public issues the street is watching out for. It had recently filed an addendum to the DRHP with the market regulator Sebi in its quest to launch the IPO, while it trimmed the IPO size to 50.15 million shares from 57.26 million as announced earlier.

For the financial year ended on March 31, 2025, NSDL reported a 12 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in revenue at Rs 1,420 crore, while its net profit increased 24.75 per cent YoY to Rs 343 crore for the period. Ebitda increased 31.5 per cent YoY to Rs 375 crore, while operating margin expanded to 26.41 per cent for the period under review.

Market participants said that CDSL has an upper hand in demat account count, while NSDL tops in terms of assets held under custody. However, the current price of NSDL in the unlisted market is slightly stretched, they say. IDBI Bank Ltd, National Stock Exchange and Union Bank of India are the biggest shareholders in NSDL, who shall be offloading their stake in the company.

IDBI Bank is eyeing to sell 2,22,20,000 equity shares, NSE will offload 1,80,00,001 equity shares; and Union Bank of India shall offer 5,01,45,001 shares in NSDL IPO. ICICI Securities, Axis Capital, HDFC Securities & Capital Market India, IDBI Capital, SBI Capital Market and Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors are managing the IPO, while MUFG Intime India is the registrar for the issue.

NSDL started its operation in 1996 and has been in depository operation for 26 years. It was incorporated as 'NSDL Depository Ltd' in April 2012 and it is a Sebi-registered market infrastructure institution (MII). It is a pioneer in the dematerialisation of securities in Indian capital markets.

NSDL offers digital infrastructure for converting physical securities into electronic form and supports the electronic settlement of transactions in India’s securities market. It was one of the earliest depositories worldwide to adopt dematerialisation directly, avoiding the traditional two-step process of first immobilising and then dematerialising securities.