In November 2008, the Finance Ministry notified that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) could hold up to 23 per cent in any listed or non-listed Indian exchange. Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) has been the first FII to avail of the opportunity presented by the notification through the FII route. Prior to the notification, in January 2007, the New York Stock Exchange Group, Softbank Asian Infrastructure Fund of Hong Kong, General Atlantic LLC and Goldman Sachs, together picked up a stake of 20 per cent in the NSE. In March of the same year, Citigroup, Actis LLP, and Morgan Stanley each picked up single digit stakes in the NSE.    

NVP India managing partner, Mr Sohil Chand, pointed out that it was NVP's pleasure to associate itself with India's largest stock exchange with an unparalleled network footprint and promising growth prospects. NVP made another Indian investment back in March when it took out a five per cent stake in OnMobile Global Ltd, a listed value-added service provider for cellphones.