The National Stock Exchange (NSE) is awaiting an approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for filing a new draft red herring prospects (DRHP) for its long-planned initial public offering, Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD & CEO, told reporters on Thursday.

“Sebi has to give approval for the IPO. Once they give the approval, we’ll apply for it,” Chauhan said. “BSE took nine years to get approval for an IPO from Sebi…we don’t know how long it will take for us (to get it),” the head of the country’s largest stock exchange said.

Previously, NSE had submitted an application (DRHP) to Sebi for its IPO in late 2016. However, due to several pending regulatory issues, and investigations, approval was not granted to proceed with the IPO.

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“A few years ago, NSE had prepared the draft red hearing prospectus (DRHP), but it was not accepted by Sebi,” an official from NSE told reporters. “A fresh DRHP can only be prepared after Sebi gives its nod.”

According to reports, Sebi has provided NSE, also the world’s largest derivative exchange, with a checklist of pre-conditions that need to be met before it can proceed with its IPO application.

Sebi has also requested NSE to enhance corporate governance standards within the exchange prior to submitting its IPO application, and to resolve all legal matters currently pending before the courts.

Another official at the meeting told reporters that NSE will not be acquiring the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), but is going to expand and launch new commodity derivative contracts.

Several reports had earlier suggested that NSE is in the final stages of acquiring NCDEX for an enterprise value of `900-1,000 crore. Come from Sports betting site VPbet

At present, NSE offers 28 products in the commodity derivatives segment. In October, it launched 13 new commodity derivatives contracts.

NSE has seen increased interest from participants in its commodity derivatives segment, particularly the derivatives on WTI crude oil and natural gas. Participation has been observed from diverse categories of participants, including Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) and domestic mutual funds, an earlier release by NSE said.