The point
Indian Bank filed on 9 September 2026 to sell up to 15,00,000 shares in the National Stock Exchange, 17.91 percent of its holding, through NSE's own initial public offering. Every rupee of that sale goes to Indian Bank. An offer for sale, OFS, is an existing shareholder's stock changing hands to a new owner. A fresh issue is new stock the company itself creates and keeps the cash from. The seller column in an IPO filing tells a buyer which one they are reading, and what the company will hold once it lists.
What an offer for sale is against a fresh issue, and who receives the money
SEBI's 2018 Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements regulations define an initial public offer as an offer of securities to the public. That offer may include an offer for sale by existing shareholders alongside fresh shares, so most Indian IPOs sit somewhere between the two (Business Standard, 18 May 2026).
In a fresh issue, the company creates new shares and sells them. The cash buyers pay lands on the company's own balance sheet. The filing usually earmarks it for expansion, debt repayment or working capital.
In an offer for sale, nothing new is created. An existing shareholder, a promoter, a bank, a private equity fund, sells shares it already owns. That shareholder keeps the buyer's money. Abhishek Jain, head of research at Arihant Capital Markets, put the distinction plainly. It tells an investor whether the IPO is "raising growth capital" or "primarily giving liquidity to early stakeholders" (Business Standard, 18 May 2026).
How to read the seller column in a filing
Two Indian public-sector banks filed to sell NSE shares through the OFS route within two days of each other in September 2026. Both filings show the same pattern.
Bank of Baroda disclosed on 8 September 2026 that it plans to sell up to 76,90,375 NSE shares, 35 percent of its holding. It moved those shares into an escrow account the same day. Divide the share count by the percentage it represents, 76,90,375 divided by 0.35, and the filing is telling you the bank held about 2.20 crore NSE shares before the sale. Indian Bank filed the next day to sell up to 15,00,000 shares, 17.91 percent of its holding. The same division, 15,00,000 divided by 0.1791, puts its pre-sale holding at about 83.75 lakh shares. Neither filing named an IPO price band. Neither number converts into a rupee value yet, only a share count.
Both banks called the sale an arm's length transaction rather than a related-party transaction. That is the standard language a filing uses when the seller and the company have no connection beyond the shares changing hands. Bank of Baroda separately disclosed Rs 76.90 crore in NSE dividend income for the 2025-26 financial year, income that ends for whatever share of its holding it sells. Indian Bank's equivalent dividend was Rs 29,31,25,000 for the same year.
What the mix of OFS and fresh issue tells a buyer about what the company will have after listing
NSE's own draft prospectus structures its offering entirely as an OFS. The filing proposes up to 14.89 crore shares, about 6 percent of NSE's paid-up capital, from roughly ten institutional shareholders. State Bank of India, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Bank of Baroda and several state-owned insurers are among the sellers. Since the whole issue is an offer for sale, every rupee it raises goes to those shareholders. NSE itself receives none of it (Business Standard, 9 September 2026).
An issue that is entirely an offer for sale
An all-OFS IPO is not unusual and is no warning sign by itself. LG Electronics India listed entirely through an offer for sale worth about Rs 11,607 crore, with no fresh issue at all. No money went into the Indian subsidiary itself (Business Standard, 18 May 2026). Paresh Bhagat, chief investment officer at Veer Growth Fund, called that kind of listing "a listing and monetisation event" for the sellers rather than a capital raise for the company. What it tells a buyer is that the company was already funded before the listing. The IPO exists to give its existing owners an exit.
A mixed issue, part OFS and part fresh issue
When a filing carries both, the proportion is the signal. A large fresh-issue component next to a small OFS says the company needs the money it is raising, and existing owners are selling only a token amount. A large OFS next to a small fresh issue says the company's own balance sheet barely changes; existing owners are the ones cashing out. Bhagat's rule of thumb: OFS-heavy IPOs need seller analysis. Fresh-issue-heavy IPOs need capital-allocation analysis (Business Standard, 18 May 2026).
What that means for NSE specifically
NSE's own filing carries no fresh issue at all, so there is no capital-allocation question to ask about this one. The only question worth asking is who is selling and why. The seller column already answers it: a list of institutional shareholders, two public-sector banks among them, each monetising part of a decades-old investment.
What a person investing through Qatobit does with the same seller-column habit
Qatobit's own products work on a different mechanism entirely. A Crypto SIP into a Qatobit Crypto Index does not buy an existing holder's stake off them. It buys into a basket that Qatobit designs and rebalances on a published monthly schedule, disclosed the way a DRHP discloses its objects clause, before an investor has to ask.
A Crypto SIP into a Qatobit Crypto Index starts at Rs 2,000 per cadence. A weekly or biweekly Crypto SIP outside an index starts at Rs 500. The habit worth carrying over from reading a seller column is the same one: check what changes hands and who benefits before the money moves. On an IPO, that means reading who is selling and why. On a Qatobit Crypto Index, it means reading the published methodology and the monthly rebalance calendar, the document that says what is actually held and when it changes. Leaving a Qatobit Crypto Index costs nothing at any holding period. The only charge is the 0.35 percent fee applied when a rebalance happens.
Reading a seller column is one habit. Reading a full DRHP is the wider one. What a DRHP discloses, and what a crypto app should disclose too covers the rest, what a draft prospectus says before a price exists.
Two more pieces round out the same listing mechanics. Why a grey market premium has no equivalent in a Qatobit index covers the informal pre-listing price. What NSE's pre-open auction does, for a market that never closes anyway covers the opening minutes. How an IPO in India actually works, start to finish is the glossary entry underneath all three.
The seller column, restated
The seller column exists in every IPO filing whether or not a reader looks for it. An offer for sale means an existing holder is stepping out. A fresh issue means the company itself is raising money. NSE's own filing is entirely OFS, so every rupee from its listing goes to shareholders like Bank of Baroda and Indian Bank. The exchange itself gets none of it. The next filing detail worth the same habit is what the rest of the DRHP discloses before a price ever exists.
Frequently asked questions
What is an offer for sale in an IPO?
An offer for sale, OFS, is an existing shareholder selling shares it already owns to public investors through the IPO process. No new shares are created. The money buyers pay goes to that shareholder rather than the company being listed.
Does the company listing get any money from an offer for sale?
No. In an offer for sale, every rupee raised goes to the selling shareholder. NSE's own IPO filing is structured entirely as an OFS, so its listing raises money only for the shareholders selling their stakes.
How can I tell if an IPO is a fresh issue or an offer for sale?
The draft prospectus states it directly, in the objects of the offer section and a table naming each selling shareholder and how many shares it is offering. Bank of Baroda's filing named its exact share count, 76,90,375 shares, and stated the sale as an offer for sale.
Why did Bank of Baroda and Indian Bank sell their NSE shares through the IPO?
Both banks are monetising part of a long-held investment in NSE rather than raising money for their own operations. Bank of Baroda filed to sell up to 35 percent of its NSE holding on 8 September 2026. Indian Bank filed to sell up to 17.91 percent the next day. Each disclosed the sale as an arm's length transaction.
Does this seller-column check apply to investing in a Qatobit Crypto Index too?
The habit applies even though the mechanism differs. A Qatobit Crypto Index is a basket Qatobit designs and rebalances monthly on a published schedule, rather than an existing holder selling a stake to a new buyer. Reading that methodology and rebalance calendar before investing is the equivalent check.
Crypto investments are subject to market risk. Not financial advice.
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