NSE IPO, national stock exchange ipo, NSE Mumbai, stock market india
A bronze bull sculpture is seen as an employee walks out of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in MumbaiReuters

After months of speculation, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday filed draft papers for an initial public offering (IPO) to potentially raise approximately Rs 10,000 crore in what is expected to be one of the most high-profile IPOs in 2017.

Existing shareholders are expected to offload as much as 20-25 percent shares to the public through the OFS route in the IPO. At this valuation, the exchange could be worth Rs 50,000 crore-Rs 55,000 crore.

Also Read: NSE plans share listing on Indian, overseas exchanges in 2017

This could be India's biggest listing since 2010 when Coal India had raised $3.5 billion. In 2016, Indian companies raised more than $3.7 billion through IPOs, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.

On Wednesday, NSE filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India. In August, the exchange hired Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and two other banks to manage its IPO. Additionally, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas was appointed the legal advisor for the public issue.

Earlier this month, Chitra Ramkrishna, the former chief executive officer of NSE, stunned investors by stepping down from the position with immediate effect citing personal reasons. The exchange said in a note that the board of NSE accepted her resignation. 

Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) is currently the only listed exchange in India. In early September, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) filed documents with the Sebi for its IPO. Shareholders of the BSE will be partially selling their stake via the OFS route for a sum in the range of Rs 1,200 crore to Rs 1,300 crore. The exchange is yet to get the go-ahead for the IPO.