MUMBAI, April 9 -- The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) has begun preparations for its initial public offering (IPO), meeting all 20 of its investment bankers earlier this week to start drafting the offer document and outline a tentative timeline for the listing, three people aware of the matter told Mint. "NSE met all 20 bankers together for the first time, where everyone agreed to a tentative timeline for the IPO," one of the people cited above said, adding that the process will begin with the identification of risks and the preparation of required disclosures, work on which is likely to begin this week. The exchange will contact all retail shareholders who wish to participate in the share sale by the end of April, a second person aware of the discussions said, wishing not to be named discussing private deliberations. The exchange's registrar had already asked retail shareholders late last month to express their interest in the IPO. "The exact date of the filing of the DRHP with Sebi is currently unknown. Accordingly, only such equity shares which have been held continuously since June 15, 2025 (the cut-off date) will be eligible to be sold in the Offer for Sale," the registrar's letter to retail investors read, a copy of which has been reviewed by Mint. "Once these retail investors express their interests, the bankers will have a three-week period to review the outreach. During this time, the exchange will also formalise institutional participants for the offer-for-sale portion," the second person explained. Once the sellers and the stake they are paring are fixed by the end of May, the exchange will determine the valuation for the offering, the third person explained. "Right now, everyone agrees that it is too early to discuss valuations," this person added. If all goes according to plan and everyone is on the same page about the valuation, the exchange is eyeing to file draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) by June or early July, the second person added....