XED Executive Development, set to be the first company to list on the GIFT City exchanges after its upcoming IPO, has appointed a market maker for one year to address low liquidity on the exchanges.
“We have appointed Evermore as our market maker and 5% of the issue has been set aside for market-making purposes,” Piyush Agrawal, chief financial officer of XED Executive Development Limited, toldMint.
XED, which provides leadership and management development programmes to senior professionals in over 25 countries, plans to raise $12 million through a dollar-based offering. It will be listed on the NSE International Exchange and the India International Exchange – in GIFT City – in the first week of March.
As the first company to list on these exchanges, XED may initially face liquidity challenges. To manage this, Evermore will provide two-way quotes—buy and sell—whenever there is no counterparty in the market.
For IPOs from small and medium enterprises, market making is mandatory for three years. However, market making is not compulsory in GIFT City – XED has opted for a one-year arrangement.
Liquidity is expected to improve as more companies list on the GIFT City exchanges and brokers with a large number of non-resident Indian (NRI) clients start to operate in GIFT City.
XED plans to raise additional capital in the future and aims to list on multiple exchanges in India and overseas, including possibly Dubai, over the next 18 months.
“The next obvious option would be listing on the Indian mainboard. Once regulations become clearer, we will evaluate whether to list in India or on an international exchange first,” Agrawal said.
Listing limitation
Currently, dual listings – in GIFT City and India – are not permitted. However, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the market regulator, and the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) are working on the issue. The IFSCA regulates the GIFT International Financial Services Centre in Gujarat.
XED plans to tie up with some top universities as it expands, founder and managing director John Kallelil said. In India and Asia, brand matters a lot—people prefer reputed universities. That’s why XED works only with top institutions that also have strong alumni communities, said Kallelil.
“The growth plan is simple: add more participants per cohort, run multiple cohorts of the same programme, expand programmes with existing universities, and selectively add a few more top universities,” said Kallelil.
XED filed its draft IPO papers in August 2025. However, the issue was delayed because shares of existing investors were in physical format and had to be dematerialized, Agrawal said.
“I think the last demat account was opened around mid-November last year, after which we received the in-principle approval from the exchanges. But by that time, we had to update the numbers for the September quarter, which took some more time,” he said.
The company filed its Red Herring Prospectus with the Registrar of Companies after securing stock exchange approvals this month. Global Horizons will be the lead manager for the issue.