NSE exit triggers sharp slowdown in unlisted share trading

In the past two years, the exchange dominated activity in the space, with demand picking up further ahead of its much-awaited IPO in the third week of September. With the process of buying NSE shares, which earlier could take several months to complete, becoming significantly faster in the run-up to the IPO, millions of shares changed hands on a daily basis. That has stopped.Read more: WhatsApp stock tips: Nithin Kamath warns of more pump-and-dump schemes as ED freezes accounts worth Rs 200 crore"Whenever a major unlisted company gets listed, some of the liquidity and investor attention naturally shifts, but another set of companies tends to emerge and take its place.

It is essentially a cycle," said Manan Doshi, co-founder, Unlisted Arena.Live EventsTrading activity in some other companies has gained momentum. Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India (MSEI) has emerged as the most actively bought unlisted stock, while Transline Technologies, Quality Enviro Engineers and Sun Drops Energia are also attracting interest. However, none has come close to matching NSE's popularity in terms of purchase volumes, said brokers.Read more: Jio IPO vs Airtel shares: Which telecom giant offers greater valuation comfort to investors?"NSE practically sold itself, since every investor understood an exchange's business model and its dominance," said Paliwal.

"With other companies, we'll need to explain the business, the growth story, and why it's worth owning before the IPO. Selling will take more effort, but the opportunity remains."Hitesh Dharawat, founder of Dharawat Securities, said API Holdings, the parent company of Pharmeasy, Oravel Stays, the parent of Oyo, and Hindustan Power Exchange are among the other popular stocks in the segment.Unlisted market participants said interest is also emerging in companies such as PPFAS, GFCL EV, MT&T Rental, Prisma AI, Goodluck Defence and Vervesemi."While NSE's listing may cause some near-term moderation in volumes, the market is continuing to see interest in the next set of potential opportunities," Doshi said.(You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)