NSE shares stable despite Yogi row, stay at Rs 3,400-3,600 past one week

The controversy surrounding Himalayan Yogi may have created reputational damage for NSE, but its stock prices seem to be unperturbed.

According to industry players, who deal in shares of unlisted companies, shares of NSE have remained steady at Rs 3,400-Rs 3,600 levels in the past one week despite the storm created by an order passed by market regulator Sebi, which alleges the exchange’s former boss Chitra Ramkrishna shared confidential information with her guru.

Part of the reason why NSE shares haven’t moved much could be the restrictions around who can deal in them. NSE being a market infrastructure intermediary (MII), one needs to meet the ‘fit and proper’ criteria to be its shareholder.

“The paper-work is hectic. Also, they are traded in large lots of 1,000-2,000 shares unlike unlisted shares of most other companies,” said Manan Doshi, co-founder of Unlisted Arena, a company dealing in pre-IPO and unlisted shares.

Shares of most unlisted stocks have corrected in-line with the fall in the secondary market. However, a few companies seem to have been spared.

“NSE and Chennai Super Kings are the only two companies whose unlisted shares have remained unaffected,” said Sandeep Ginodia of Abhishek Securities.

Earlier this week, NSE issued a statement highlighting that the controversy was an old issue.

"The said (Sebi) order relates to certain issues at NSE during the period 2013-2016 and are therefore almost 6-9 years old. In this regard, over the last few years there have been several changes at the board and management level at NSE," it said in a statement.

NSE is the market leader with more than 90 per cent market share in the equity cash segment and it enjoys a virtual monopoly in the derivatives segment.

For the quarter ended December 2021, NSE had reported a 67 per cent year-on-year jump in revenues to Rs 2,367 crore, while its net profit jumped 6.5x to Rs 1,349 crore.

Market players said its IPO will be the next big trigger for its stock price to rally. However, it remains to be seen how the latest scandal impacts its plan to go public.

Last year, NSE had written to markets regulator Sebi asking whether it can once again file the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) to go public. However, Sebi is yet to give go-ahead.