Even as the timing of public issue for National stock exchange (NSE) continues to remain elusive, the retail investors have upped their bet on country’s largest stock exchange over the last three years. The retail holdings in NSE have surged nearly five-fold to 8.75% as of September 2023, revealed shareholding data of the exchange. In contrast, the retail investors held 1.85% of the equity at the end of September 2020.

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While the percentage held by the retail category went up from less than two percent to near nine percent since September 2020, the number of shareholders has leapfrogged from less than 400 to a whooping 7,303 during the same period.

On an average, about 500 shareholders were added in every quarter with latest quarter being the biggest addition. In September quarter alone, 1666 new investors joined in the category. Similarly, the number of shares held by retail shareholders were just 91.5 lakh in September 2020 against the current tally of 4.33 crore.

Source: NSE

In fact, the NSE stock was ranked among the top five most active traded stocks in value terms between December 2022 and March 2023.

According to market participants, the share price of NSE have rallied about four-fold over the last three years, which are trading at about ₹3,200 per piece in grey market. At this price, the stock is valued at roughly about 21 times of its FY23 earnings. In comparison, the listed peers -- BSE and MCX command a price to earnings (PE) ratio of 122x, and 89x, respectively based on their last twelve months earnings.

The net profit of NSE increased 11% in the first half of FY24 to ₹3,843 crore on the back of 19% growth in net revenue. The stock exchange clocked a net revenue of ₹6,639 crore for the first six months of the fiscal 2024. Between FY20-FY23, the net profit and revenue of NSE surged at a compounded rate (CAGR) of 57% and 50%, respectively.

(Edited by : Anand Singha)