New Delhi, June 4 -- While SEBI's recent comments have rekindled hopes around the long-delayed National Stock Exchange (NSE) IPO, market experts caution that optimism must be tempered with realism. Several regulatory and legal hurdles still stand in the way of what could be one of India's most consequential public offerings.

The NSE IPO has long been a topic of anticipation and speculation. First proposed in 2016 with an aim to sell a 22 percent stake and raise Rs.10,000 crore, the offering has yet to materialize due to the absence of a mandatory No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). This certificate is crucial for the exchange to formally proceed with its draft red herring prospectus (DRH...