NSE IPO Closes a Thin Book as 20 Issues Open

The National Stock Exchange of India closes a Rs 22,562 crore IPO on September 21 with the book only 1.34 times covered by mid-morning. Retail still has not filled its slice. The unofficial premium on the shares is 3.14%.

Twenty more public issues are set to open after that close, and 14 companies, NSE among them, are due to list. A Rs 500 crore retailer in the same window is already 103.30 times subscribed.

NSE’s Rs 22,562 Crore Book Barely Clears Full Cover

Friday’s close, taken from BSE bid data, showed 10.28 crore shares bid against 8.86 crore on offer, or 1.16 times, from 2,038,323 applications. Qualified institutional buyers were at 1.53 times, non-institutional buyers at 1.68 times, and employees at 1.53 times. Retail had taken only 0.72 times of its 35% quota.

Chittorgarh’s live tally at 10:00 a.m. on September 21 put the whole book at 1.34 times. QIBs had moved to 1.83 times and the non-institutional slice to 1.89 times. Retail was still at 0.81 times. The employee reservation was 1.68 times.

MONDAY MORNING COVER

• Overall book: 1.34 times at 10:00 a.m. on September 21, after 1.16 times at Friday’s close.
• Retail quota: 0.81 times, still short of the 35% set aside for individual buyers.
• QIBs and NIIs: 1.83 times and 1.89 times, the only groups holding the issue above full cover.
• Ticket size: Eight shares at the cap, or Rs 14,280, with a UPI cutoff of 7 p.m. IST on September 21.

The issue is India’s second-largest public offering, behind Hyundai Motor India’s Rs 27,870 crore sale in 2024, and it is priced off a price band of Rs 1,700 to Rs 1,785. At the cap the implied market value is Rs 4.42 lakh crore, about $46 billion, or roughly 43 times FY26 earnings. Shares list on BSE on September 24. NSE will not list on its own platform.

On opening day, Aishvarya Dadheech, founder of Fident Asset Management, expected institutions to finish the job late.

Subscriptions will pick up as institutional buyers start coming in.

Aishvarya Dadheech, founder, Fident Asset Management

They did, in a modest way. The book is covered. It is not crowded.

Grey Market Premium Slides From Rs 142 to Rs 56

Investorgain’s live board showed a grey market premium of Rs 56 at 9:37 a.m. on September 21, or 3.14% over the Rs 1,785 cap, for an indicated print of Rs 1,841. When bidding opened on September 17 the same board had Rs 142, about 8%. The recent high on that tape was Rs 310.

Anchor investors had already taken 3,77,93,739 shares at Rs 1,785 on September 16, putting Rs 6,746.18 crore to work across 189 accounts, including 98 mutual fund schemes and 27 life insurers. Demand for that slice ran to nearly Rs 1.2 lakh crore. The public book never matched that heat. Grey-market dealers price an unofficial claim on listing day, and that claim has been marked down hard enough that short-term money has a reason to wait, or to go elsewhere.

Some regular IPO bidders sat out once the unofficial premium fell into the low single digits, which left Monday’s remaining cover to QIBs. A grounded premium can also keep the allotted float lighter, which is useful for larger buyers who want stock on listing day rather than in the book.

Retail Still Has Not Filled Its Quota

Individual buyers have treated this name as a long-term infrastructure holding, not as a listing pop, and several of the features that usually fill a retail book are missing.

WHY THE RETAIL SLICE IS SHORT

• The cheque: Rs 14,280 for one lot is a large ticket when 20 other issues are asking for cash in the same window.
• The structure: NSE receives none of the money, because the issue is an offer for sale of 12.64 crore existing shares.
• The multiple: About 43 times FY26 earnings leaves little room if derivatives volumes stay soft.
• The mix: YES Securities said 79% of FY26 revenue came from transaction charges, with options-related charges 60% of trading revenue, after options volumes fell 27% from their 2024 peak.

Revenue growth was sluggish across FY24 to FY26, though it recovered to 13.1% in the first quarter of FY27, with options charges up 15.6%. Deven Choksey Research has said the investment case now depends more on earnings growth than on a higher multiple. Mirae Asset Sharekhan still points to more than 90% share across key trading segments. Religare’s note on the issue is Neutral.

Bankers had already cut the offer after roadshows. Shares on the block fell from 148.9 million to 126.44 million, a 15% reduction, and the earlier band of Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,100 was replaced by Rs 1,700 to Rs 1,785. That still left a fully priced, all-OFS deal in a week that is about to get more crowded.

SBI and Temasek Trim Stakes While LIC Stays

NSE has no classified promoter. The public issue is entirely an offer for sale by existing holders, so the cash goes to them. Twenty institutions held 36.82% before the sale and tendered shares equal to 5.11%. Nine foreign holders accounted for 15.96% of the pre-issue equity, and 11 domestic ones, including 10 public-sector entities and ICICI Lombard, held 20.86%.

State Bank of India is the largest seller, offering up to 1.59 crore shares. SBI itself held 3.23% and SBI Capital Markets another 4.33%. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is selling 1.18 crore shares, Temasek-owned Aranda Investments 1.12 crore, MS Strategic (Mauritius) 1.1 crore, and New India Assurance 1.05 crore. Aranda’s 4.54%, Stock Holding Corporation of India’s 4.44%, and SBI Capital Markets’ 4.33% were each trimmed by about 7% on average.

Life Insurance Corporation of India, the largest holder at 10.72%, or 26.52 crore shares, is not selling. It still added to the position in the anchor book, taking Rs 450.30 crore across LIC and two LIC-linked funds. The sellers are cashing part of a decade-old stake. They are not leaving.

A Rs 500 Crore Retailer Outruns the Exchange

The same window that left NSE’s retail quota short produced two small mainboard books with grey-market premia above 30%. SS Retail, a Rs 500 crore issue at Rs 403 to Rs 424, was subscribed 103.30 times, with QIBs at 203.61 times, non-institutional buyers at 143.32 times, and retail at 36.36 times. Investorgain’s unofficial premium on that name was Rs 148, or 34.91%, implying Rs 572. Allotment is due September 21, with listing on September 23.

Jindal Supreme, a Rs 124.88 crore steel issue at Rs 88 to Rs 93, closed 177.03 times subscribed. Its unofficial premium was Rs 29, or 31.18%, implying Rs 122, also for a September 23 debut. Hero Motors, listing on the same day, has been quoted near flat in the grey market, and some unofficial prints have been in discount. That split is what how grey market premiums work looks like in a crowded week: cash follows the pop, not the brand.

THE SAME WINDOW, FOUR BOOKS

SpectraA Technology, an SME name closing on September 21, was 18.43 times subscribed in the last full tally, with an unofficial premium near 38%. Kheria Autocomp, closing the same day, had taken only 45% of its book. The SME tape is not a single story either.

Hillhouse Seeks Rs 2,100 Crore After the Close

Issuers have not slowed. Nineteen companies, excluding Moneyview, are expected to raise more than Rs 4,200 crore, including Rs 3,825 crore on the mainboard and more than Rs 400 crore on the SME platforms. Thirty-eight public issues have already come this month. The September IPO calendar still has 20 more opening dates to fill.

Varmora Opens the Mainboard Queue

Varmora Granito, a Gujarat tiles maker, opens a Rs 708 crore issue on September 22 at Rs 140 to Rs 148, with Rs 320 crore of fresh equity and an offer for sale of Rs 388.02 crore by Katsura Investments. The lot is 101 shares, or Rs 14,948 at the cap. Listing is tentatively September 29.

On September 23 four mainboard names open together, and six SME issues join them, for 10 offers on one day. Elevate Campuses, owned by Hillhouse Investment through Genius Bidco Holdings and Genius Rajkot Investment Holdings, is the largest, a Rs 2,100 crore fresh issue at Rs 343 to Rs 362, with no offer for sale. The size is already down from Rs 2,550 crore. Post-issue value at the cap is Rs 6,100.82 crore. Anchors bid on September 22. Public bidding runs through September 25, with listing due September 30.

Elevate owns and runs student housing and leases school buildings. Capacity stood at 80,255 beds across 16 cities in India and Dubai as of March 2026, of which 20,368 were owned and 55,487 were managed. FY26 profit was Rs 173.8 crore, 3.5 times the prior year’s Rs 49.7 crore, on revenue of Rs 568.6 crore, up 53.8% from Rs 369.8 crore. Owned-bed occupancy fell from 99.92% in FY24 to 89.37% in FY26. The company plans to spend Rs 1,100 crore, 52.4% of the issue, buying K-12 campuses from promoter-group entities, and Rs 750 crore paying down debt. Borrowings were Rs 3,130 crore as of March 2026. The top three campus clients, led by O.P. Jindal Global University at about 36%, supplied 61.46% of FY26 revenue.

ArMee Infotech is raising up to Rs 300 crore at Rs 350 to Rs 375. Swastika Infra is raising Rs 161.37 crore at Rs 175 to Rs 185. Adroit Industries India is raising Rs 150.7 crore at Rs 126 to Rs 134. A-One Steels India follows on September 24 with a Rs 405 crore book at Rs 385 to Rs 405.

Moneyview, left out of the Rs 4,200 crore tally while its band was pending, has now set Rs 32 to Rs 34. The revised issue is Rs 1,091.68 crore, with a Rs 750 crore fresh sale and an offer for sale of 10.04 crore shares, opening September 24 and listing around October 1. Unofficial premium on that name is nil.

MAINBOARD ISSUES OPENING AFTER NSE’S CLOSE

Thirteen SME Issues Fill the Same Window

FX Multitech, Vivekanand Cotspin and Robokidz Eduventures open on September 21, seeking more than Rs 45 crore, Rs 31 crore and Rs 22 crore. Himalaya Nutravedics India and Anand Seamless follow on September 22 at about Rs 26.5 crore and Rs 25.5 crore. Six more, Pooja Logistics, Liqvd Digital India, Unitec Fibres, SK Offset, Coreintegra Consulting Services and Sai Urja Indo Ventures, open on September 23. Peshwa Wheat and Bench Mark Infotech Services close the SME list on September 24 and September 25, together about Rs 100 crore.

Fourteen Listings Arrive Before the Next Wave

The primary market is also delivering stock into the secondary tape while the new books open. Six mainboard names and eight SME names are due to start trading.

THE LISTING RUN

1. September 21: Manika Plastech lists on the mainboard; Century Business Media and Injecto Polymers list on BSE SME.
2. September 22: Vama Wovenfab and Quanto Agroworld list on BSE SME. Axiom Gas Engineering closes its issue, 58% covered in the last tally.
3. September 23: Hero Motors, SS Retail and Jindal Supreme list on NSE and BSE.
4. September 24: NSE and Sonaselection India list on BSE; SpectraA Technology and Kheria Autocomp list on NSE Emerge.
5. September 25: Axiom Gas Engineering lists on NSE Emerge.

SS Retail, SpectraA Technology and Jindal Supreme are the names that unofficial markets have bid more than 30% above the cap. NSE, Hero Motors and most of the rest have not.

Bids with a UPI mandate still have until 7 p.m. IST on September 21 to confirm. Allotment is due September 22. Trading in NSE shares is scheduled to start on BSE on September 24.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting and analysis of public issues, unofficial grey-market quotes and listing calendars, and it is for information only. It is not investment advice, a recommendation to apply for or avoid any IPO, or a solicitation to buy or sell any security. Readers should consult a SEBI-registered investment adviser or a qualified financial planner before committing funds, because IPO allotment, listing prices and grey-market premiums can change and may result in loss of capital. Figures and subscription levels here reflect the cited exchange data, company issue terms and tracker prints available on September 21, 2026, and those prints can move before bidding ends and before listing.