The regulations for direct list of stocks in GIFT City in Gujarat are currently being formulated and NSE IX --- an international exchange at GIFT City in Gujarat --- will be able to do the first listing in the next two quarters said Ashishkumar Chauhan, Managing Director, National Stock Exchange (NSE) during his visit to Ahmedabad on Friday.

“We are talking to many companies (for direct listing of stocks). Currently the regulations for the same are being made. Hopefully we will be able to do it in the next two quarters, at the first listing,” said Chauhan who was at Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA).

IPO plans

When asked which company is expected to get listed, he said, “We are talking to both Indian and international companies. Without investors we cannot have the IPO and so lots of Indian brokers have got their customers registered with NSE IX and similarly a lot of foreign customers have also now got registered. Now when we have IPO, it will get a good response. In February 2025, BSE’s international exchange in GIFT City --- The India International Exchange Ltd (India INX) --- had said that it was in talks with five Indian companies for direct listing of stocks.

Talking about the performance of NSE IX, Chauhan said that the international exchange is emerging as a large entity globally.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on July 22, 2022 inaugurated a link between Singapore Exchange and NSE IX. We had started trading from July 1, 2023. Almost two years have passed and every month we are conducting trade worth $105-110 billion in NSE IX. There are days when the trading is worth $12-15 billion and there are days when the trade is $2-3 billion; but on an average $5 billion of trading happens daily. We have also listed $70-80 billion worth of bonds. Recently, we listed bonds belonging to a financial entity based in Colombo,” he added.

Asked about the status of NSE’s proposed IPO, Chauhan said that NSE is still awaiting a no-objection certificate from SEBI and no work on the DRHP has begun. “Actually the process of IPO is pretty long. We have not initiated even the first step in the process. We are regulated by a regulatory entity in our sector. We need to obtain a no-objection certificate. It is only after we receive NOC, would we be able to initiate the process of preparing a draft red herring prospectus and then whatever time it would take,” he said.

Published on June 20, 2025