The Supreme Court on Friday permitted a settlement between the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in the long-running co-location dispute, bringing the regulator’s appeals against a Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) ruling to a close.

The settlement follows Sebi’s acceptance in July of NSE’s proposals to resolve proceedings arising from the co-location and related dark fibre matters for a combined amount of around ₹1,492 crore.

Of this, NSE had offered ₹1,224 crore to settle Sebi’s pending appeal concerning the co-location facility. It separately proposed a settlement of about ₹268 crore in the dark fibre matter, also referred to as the leased line connectivity case.

The Supreme Court had earlier disposed of Sebi’s appeal in the dark fibre proceedings after taking note of the settlement between the parties.

The principal co-location dispute stems from a Sebi order issued in 2019. The regulator had directed NSE to disgorge ₹625 crore along with interest at 12 per cent annually from April 1, 2014.

Sebi had alleged that NSE provided preferential access to its tick-by-tick data dissemination servers to certain brokers operating from its co-location facility.

According to the regulator, the arrangement enabled some brokers to gain an unfair advantage and make substantial profits.

NSE challenged Sebi’s order before the SAT, which subsequently set aside the disgorgement direction. Sebi then moved the Supreme Court against the tribunal’s decision.

The settlement brings the litigation over the disputed disgorgement order to an end, following years of proceedings before the securities tribunal and the apex court.

The Supreme Court’s order comes shortly after Sebi cleared NSE’s proposed initial public offering (IPO) earlier this month.

NSE, established in 1992, is the country’s largest stock exchange and offers trading, clearing, listing, market data and licensing services.