MUMBAI, June 26 -- The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has accepted the settlement applications filed by the National Stock Exchange to resolve pending regulatory investigations, potentially paving the way for the long-delayed initial public offering (IPO) of India's largest stock exchange, according to a person familiar with the matter. Sebi is likely to issue a formal no-objection certificate (NOC) by the end of this month, the person said, adding that this would allow the NSE to proceed with filing its Draft Red Herring Prospectus for the IPO. NSE has offered to pay around Rs.1,400 crore to settle pending cases in the Supreme Court. Under Sebi's settlement rules, entities can resolve probes by paying a monetary amount without admitting or denying guilt. "The fact that an application has been filed for around Rs.1,400 crore indicates that the two parties have arrived at a settlement amount. This, in turn, will clear the decks for Sebi to issue the NOC to NSE by month-end," the person said, requesting anonymity. The consent filing was preceded by several rounds of talks between Sebi and NSE over the settlement amount, among other issues. The settlement applications relate to multiple regulatory investigations, including the co-location and dark fibre cases. NSE and Sebi did not immediately respond to queries on the acceptance of the applications. NSE's IPO has been on hold since 2016. Once the NOC is received, NSE is expected to file its prospectus with the regulator. The price of unlisted NSE shares has surged from Rs.1,500 to Rs.2,300 in the past three months on hopes of Sebi issuing an NOC for the proposed listing. Another potential roadblock-Sebi's earlier insistence that stock exchanges must separate ownership of their clearing corporations-also appears to have been removed. Sebi chairperson Tuhin Kanta Pandey said at a press conference on 24 June that the regulator had put the proposal on hold due to feasibility concerns. He also said the regulatory clearance for NSE's listing was not contingent on these norms being implemented. The co-location case stems from allegations dating back to 2015....