Event Overview

National Stock Exchange of India Limited conducted its Q2 FY27 earnings conference call on November 3, 2026, to discuss audited standalone and consolidated financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 30, 2026. The call was attended by the full NSE leadership team including MD & CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan, CFO Ian de Souza, and Chief Business Development Officer Sriram Krishnan.

Macroeconomic Context

  • India's GDP growth projected at 7.1% for fiscal 2027 by RBI
  • Equity markets remained volatile amid geopolitical tensions and fluctuating crude oil prices
  • India remains world's fourth-largest equity market with market capitalization of approximately US$4.9 trillion as of September 30, 2026
  • Investor accounts crossed 27 crores in September 2026
  • Unique registered investors reached 13.7 crore
  • Domestic institutional investors remained net buyers for 22nd consecutive quarter with investment of ₹1.7 lakh crore (US$17.8 billion) in September quarter

Financial Performance - Q2 FY27

Consolidated Results:

  • Total income: ₹4,554 crore (up 9% YoY from ₹4,160 crore in Q2FY26)
  • Revenue from operations: ₹4,067 crore (up 11% YoY, constituting 89% of total income)
  • Profit before tax from continuing operations: ₹3,425 crore (up 13% YoY)
  • Profit after tax: ₹2,578 crore (up 23% YoY)
  • Earnings per share: ₹10.41 (non-annualized basis)

Revenue Breakdown:

  • Transaction charges: ₹3,035 crore (up 9% YoY)
  • Options: ₹2,216 crore (up 6% YoY)
  • Weekly expiries (Nifty index options): ₹1,699 crore (38% of total income)
  • Cash Market: ₹474 crore (up 30% YoY)
  • Equity Futures: ₹328 crore (including ₹32 crore from NSE IFSC Limited)
  • Mutual Funds: ₹13 crore (3.5x growth from ₹4 crore in Q2FY26)
  • Listing services revenue: ₹150 crore (up 70% YoY)
  • Data related services: ₹531 crore (up 8% YoY, 13% of operating income)

Financial Performance - H1 FY27

  • Total income: ₹9,807 crore (up 9% YoY)
  • Revenue from operations: ₹8,627 crore (up 12% YoY)
  • Profit after tax: ₹5,698 crore (up 13% YoY)
  • Earnings per share: ₹23.02 (non-annualized basis)

Expense Analysis - Q2 FY27

  • Consolidated expenditure: ₹1,161 crore (decreased 51% YoY, largely due to one-time provision towards SEBI Settlement fees of ₹1,297 crore in Q2FY26)
  • Excluding SEBI settlement impact, expenditure increased 10% YoY
  • Employee expenses: up 18% YoY (104 employees added primarily in technology and regulatory functions)
  • Technology expense: up 22% YoY (investments in resiliency, modernization, and cyber security)

H1 FY27 Expense Composition

  • Total expenditure: ₹2,333 crore (down 31% YoY)
  • Volume-linked expenses: 18% of total expenditure
  • Technology expenses: 32% of total expenditure (₹751 crore, 8.7% of revenue from operations)
  • Employee expenses: 20% of total expenditure (₹463 crore, 5.4% of revenue from operations)

Profitability Metrics

  • Operating EBITDA margin: 77% for H1 FY27
  • Normalized profit before tax margin: 76%
  • Net profit margin: 58%
  • Return on equity: 19% for H1 FY27 (non-annualized basis)

Balance Sheet Strength

  • Net worth: ₹28,907 crore as of September 30, 2026
  • Total treasury investments: ₹52,613 crore
  • Corporate treasury investments: ₹34,699 crore
  • Core settlement guarantee fund: ₹13,665 crore
  • Investor Protection Fund corpus: ₹2,973 crore
  • Risk reserves: ₹4,805 crore

Business Initiatives and Product Launches

New Product Launches:

  • Electronic Gold Receipts (EGRs) commenced live trading on May 18, 2026
  • Augmont empanelled as strategic partner for EGRs
  • Memoranda of Understanding with Steel Users Federation of India and Bharat Metal Exchange for steel and non-ferrous metal derivatives
  • No Objection Certificate from SEBI for futures contracts on Corporate Bond Index (subject to RBI approval)

Technology Initiatives:

  • Tokenisation of corporate bonds on NSE Electronic Bidding Platform (first tokenized bond issuances by REC and L&T raising ₹1,000 crore)
  • Market LENS stock-screening and analytics platform covering 2,000+ stocks
  • NSE EGR Mobile App for digitizing physical gold to EGR conversion
  • MCP-based connectivity for external AI agents to access market data

Market Activity and Performance

Capital Raising:

  • Total funds raised: ₹7.4 lakh crore via equity, debt and business trusts (up 64% YoY)
  • Equity listings: 87 companies across mainboard and SME platforms raising ₹66,447 crore (up 12x QoQ, 35% YoY)
  • September 2026: 31 listings (highest in single month)
  • Average mainboard IPO size: ₹1,050 crore (up 79% QoQ)
  • NSE Emerge: ₹1,329 crore raised through 25 company listings
  • Debt mobilization: ₹5 lakh crore through Commercial papers and NCDs in Q2FY27
  • Electronic Bidding Platform: ₹1.30 lakh crore across 76 issuers (more than double YoY)

Trading Volumes:

  • Equity cash market ADT: ₹1.18 lakh crore (up 23.7% YoY)
  • Equity options ADT (premium value): up 3.3% YoY
  • Equity futures ADT: ₹1.25 lakh crore (down 11.7% YoY)
  • Debt RFQ platform ADT: ₹6,508 crore (up 10% YoY)
  • Tri-party repo ADT: ₹6,825 crore (up 5.4% QoQ, 152.8% YoY)
  • OBPPs: 17.18 lakh gross trades in Q2FY27, 30.45 lakh in H1FY27
  • Mutual Fund orders: 6.72 crore (up 155% YoY), market share 22% (up from 12%)

Commodity Derivatives:

  • Commodity futures ADT: ₹137.6 crore (up 38% QoQ)
  • Commodity options Average Daily Premium Turnover: ₹296.8 crore (up 116% QoQ, 8x YoY)
  • Crude oil options: Daily premium turnover increased from ₹22 crore (Dec 2025) to ₹4,003 crore (Oct 2026)
  • Gold 10g Futures: Turnover ₹988 crore with 65,372 contracts since March 16, 2026 launch
  • Monthly Electricity Futures: Cumulative turnover ₹16,864 crore across 871,988 contracts since July 14, 2025

Market Share Position

  • Equity cash market: 92%
  • Equity futures: 99.8%
  • Equity options: 68.0% (based on premium turnover)
  • Debt secondary market: 96% in RFQ, 80% in CBRICS, nearly 100% in Tri-party repo
  • Commodity derivatives: 64% market share in electricity futures

Subsidiary Performance - H1 FY27

  • NSE Clearing: Total income ₹1,152 crore (up 16% YoY), PAT ₹597 crore (up 11% YoY)
  • NSE Data & Analytics: Total income ₹278 crore (up 45% YoY), PAT ₹123 crore (up 61% YoY)
  • NSE Indices: Total income ₹104 crore (up 10% YoY), PAT ₹63 crore (up 9% YoY)
  • NSEIX (Gift City): Total income ₹79 crore (up 17% YoY), PAT ₹15 crore (4.3x increase)

Social Stock Exchange

  • 94% of funds raised and 82% of unique projects across exchanges
  • 209 NPOs registered on NSE-SSE (98 active)
  • 16 projects raised over ₹44.5 crore
  • Pipeline: 23 projects targeting ₹113 crore mobilization
  • First blended-financing project by National Skill Development Corporation (₹11.26 crore total outlay)

Regulatory and Compliance

  • Conference call conducted pursuant to Regulation 30 of SEBI Listing Regulations
  • Transcript available on BSE and company website
  • Forward-looking statements subject to risks and uncertainties

Investor Protection

  • Investor Protection Fund corpus: ₹2,973 crore as of September 30, 2026
  • 10,500+ investor awareness programs conducted in H1 FY27 reaching 5.2 lakh participants

Management Commentary

Ashishkumar Chauhan (MD & CEO):

Expressed gratitude to shareholders for IPO participation with 34+ lakh retail investors allotted shares. Acknowledged SEBI, Government, Board members, and all stakeholders for supporting NSE's listing journey. Emphasized commitment to playing enabling role in fund mobilization, capital formation, wealth creation, and job creation.

Ian de Souza (CFO):

Highlighted strong operating leverage, balance sheet strength, and disciplined investment supporting profitability. Noted broadening revenue base beyond transaction charges. Emphasized technology investments in resiliency, modernization, and cyber security.

Sriram Krishnan (Chief Business Development Officer):

Detailed market leadership across product segments and growth initiatives. Discussed structural reforms to expand cash market, including potential SLB reforms and corporate bond index futures. Outlined EGR expansion plans with more collection centers and product enhancements.

Q&A Session Highlights

Volume Trends:

  • Cash market ADT dropped 13% QoQ but up 24% YoY
  • CAS implementation impact more on settlement price determination for expiring index options
  • RBI bank guarantee regulation impact mitigated by market participant adaptations

Co-location Business:

  • 800 full rack equivalents added since January 2025, total racks now 1,868
  • 300 members with co-location racks
  • Revenue linked to both data charges and transaction volume increases

Regulatory Developments:

  • SEBI easing EPI margin rules to augment cash market activity
  • No current plans to change equity derivatives expiry frequency (weekly format to continue)
  • Working group reviewing securities lending and borrowing rules

Cost Guidance:

  • Employee expense growth to moderate as wage code impact gets baked into comparisons
  • Technology expense growth expected in mid-teens, maintaining ~8.7% of operating revenue
  • Capex: ~₹490 crore in H1, H2 expected to be similar including potential colocation expansion

Growth Initiatives:

  • Market LENS data analytics platform with 10,000+ datasets planned
  • Corporate Bond Index Futures awaiting RBI approval
  • EGR expansion with more collection centers and mobile app enhancements
  • AI deployment in compliance, customer support, operational efficiency, and software engineering

Market Outlook:

  • Expectation of cash market expansion from SLB reforms and CAS amendments
  • Geopolitical factors to influence market activity
  • Focus on longer-dated instruments and options products