'National Stock Exchange of India using AI to track & curb malpractices'

AI surveillance is being used to determine behavioural patterns, detect manipulation and insider trading in the stock market, said Sriram Krishnan, Chief Business Development Officer(CBDO) at the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE). "For the last two or three years, we have been using homegrown algorithms mainly as a means of detecting and preventing malpractices in the market," he added, while refusing to disclose statistics on the malpractices it has prevented or detected. He said that the NSE does not publish such statistics, as "it would not be in the interest of the market". On the extent of AI use for surveillance of malpractices, he said it was an evolving process.

The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) Initial Public Offering (IPO) will open for public subscription on Thursday, September 17, 2026, and close on Monday, September 21, 2026. After regulatory approvals, National Stock Exchange of India Limited has fixed the price band of Rs 1,700/- to Rs 1,785/- per Equity Share of face value Rs. 1/- each for its initial public offer. Investors can bid for a minimum of 8 Equity Shares and in multiples of 8 Equity Shares thereafter.

National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) began its operations in 1994 and was the first exchange in India to implement electronic or screen-based trading. NSE is ranked third in the world in the equity segment by number of trades (electronic order book) in 2025, as per the statistics maintained by the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).

NSE's IPO comes amid growing pressure on Indian market

When queried about NSE's IPO coming at a time when the Indian markets are facing sustained pressures due to high oil prices, falling value of Indian Rupee, geopolitical tensions, Krishnan replied that the NSE IPO is not meant to "time the market" and that this IPO is only meant to facilitate price discovery. "Investors who commit to NSE are very long-term oriented. They don't look at the current environment. Foreign Investors told us that buying NSE is like buying the India growth story, and that NSE will do well as India continues to develop," he cited.

Why FPIs are pulling out of Indian stock market

On the trend of Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) pulling out of the Indian stock market and opting to invest in overseas markets, NSE's CBDO explained that FPIs have the choice to invest anywhere they find suitable. "For example, a fund manager in San Francisco would prefer to invest in an AI firm delivering 2000% returns, given that India does not have such AI-centric options for investment. They are free to invest anywhere in the world. However, they also reallocate their investments every few months. All this depends on the choice of the fund managers. If they feel India is lacking in AI and that there are risk factors in India, they might go elsewhere. On the contrary, when the AI bubble bursts, or there is a market correction, they will come back to India," he elaborated.

Potential for growth in the Indian stock market

Citing data from recent years, NSE officials pointed out that India's unique registered investor base (tracked via PAN) on the National Stock Exchange surged from approximately 3.1 crore (31 million) in March 2020 just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and crossed the 13 crore (130 million) milestone by April 2026. They said that at least 20-30 lakh (2-3 million) new DMAT accounts(for holding investments digitally) were being opened every month over the last five years.

Further, they also highlighted that such growth is sustainable, given that only 13.3 crore Indians out of the country's 140 crore population are trading in the capital markets.

Our job is to bring good firms to the trading platform after checking their history and antecedents, track record, trust quotient, among others. To facilitate such growth of investors in the Indian market, we will also need to invest in the technology infrastructure that can help 40-50 crore people trade online, while also having the mechanism to deal with cybercrime and related threats.

Market cap of NSE-listed firms could hit $11 trillion in a decade

Quoting projections, NSE officials said that India's nominal GDP is estimated to climb toward the $10 trillion mark in a decade, which is more than double the present $4.3 trillion. Likewise, they expressed hope that the total market capitalisation of all NSE-listed firms could double from the present $5.1trillion to almost $11-12trillion in a decade. They believe that such growth can be achieved when India's startups, unicorns, and small-medium enterprises transition to public exchange listings. Citing the consistent growth of firms getting listed in the stock market, they pointed out that more than 250 firms have been getting listed every year over the last two years. Citing such numbers, an NSE official expressed hope that it would be possible to add about 3,000 firms to the stock market in about a decade.