NSDL IPO: Have You Subscribed? GMP Sees Sudden Drop—Check 3 Concerns For Investors

NSDL IPO: The initial public offering (IPO) of National Securities Depository Ltd. finally opened for subscription on July 30, 2025, putting at rest the anticipation from investors for the past several months. The mainboard issue of India's largest depository has been subscribed over three times on the second day. However, the grey market premium (GMP) has logged a sharp fall today after seeing a positive trend in the last few sessions.

The IPO will see some major institutional investors trimming their stakes from the depository. D-Street brokerages have not been particularly bullish on the IPO with some suggesting caution over the risks mentioned in the red herring prospectus.

Let's take a look at the key concerns that may worry NSDL IPO subscribers:

According to Investorgain.com, NSDL IPO GMP dropped to Rs 131 on Thursday, from Rs 135 on July 30. This indicates an expected listing price of around Rs 931, which is a decent 16% premium, but below the initial buzz when at its peak, the GMP hit Rs 167 in mid-July. Since then, the GMP trend has been mixed. GMP is based on fluctuating market sentiments and only gives an indicative listing price.

NSDL IPO is entirely an Offer for Sale (OFS). This means that no new shares are being issued and the company will not receive any fresh capital. Instead, existing shareholders are offloading up to 5.01 crore shares.

IDBI Bank will sell up to 2.22 crore shares, SBI will sell up to 40 lakh shares, NSE will offload up to 1.80 crore shares, and HDFC Bank will sell up to 20 lakh shares. The Administrator of the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) will offer up to 34.15 lakh shares.

Currently, IDBI and NSE hold 26.01% and 24% stake, respectively, in NSDL. HDFC Bank holds a 7.95% stake, Deutsche Bank and SBI hold a 5% stake, and the SUUTI holds a 6.83% stake in NSDL. According to SEBI norms, no single entity can own more than 15% in a market infrastructure institution.

According to the RHP, a large proportion of the business is transaction-based and reliant on high trading volumes in the securities market. External factors beyond its control may affect the trading volumes which could adversely affect the business, cash flows, results of operation and financial condition.

If there is a shift in investor preferences away from investing and trading in securities to other avenues, it could reduce demand for the company's services and adversely affect its business, financial condition, and results of operations. Moreover, its failure to expand service offerings and market reach may have an adverse impact on its business.

NSDL IPO is entirely an OFS of up to 5.01 crore equity shares by existing shareholders, including IDBI Bank, NSE, and SBI. The depository has fixed the price band in the range of Rs 760 to Rs 800 per equity share of the face value of Rs 2.

The national depository opened for its primary offering on July 30, 2025 and the bidding for the issue shall close on Aug. 01.

NSDL shares will be listed at the bourses on BSE and NSE on Aug. 6, 2025. The bidding for anchor investors took place on July 29. ICICI Securities, HDFC Securities and Capital Markets, IDBI Capital Markets & Securities, Axis Capital, SBI Capital Markets and Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors are the issue's book-running lead managers, while MUFG Intime India serves as the registrar.

NSDL is India's largest depository in terms of number of issuers, active instruments, market share in demat value of settlement volume and value of assets held under custody. Established in 1996, NSDL is acting as custodian to over 51.1 trillion rupees in securities for over 40 million investor accounts.