Subscribed 3.48 times by Day 2, yet only about 2.90% of Jio Platforms' equity will be in public hands.
MUMBAI: Jio Platforms’ initial public offering, open from 21 to 23 October, is the largest primary equity issue in Indian market history. It was fully subscribed about 100 minutes after opening. At the top of the ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 price band, the company is valued at about ₹10,30,490 crore, or $107 billion to $108 billion. The issue is entirely fresh, so Reliance Industries and early investors are not selling a single share.
Big issue, thin float
The ₹30,213 crore offer clears Hyundai Motor India’s ₹27,870 crore record from 2024. Institutions led the rush. By 11 am on 22 October, qualified institutional buyers had bid 9.42 times their quota, non-institutional investors 2.34 times and retail investors 1.03 times, which took the whole issue to 3.48 times. Demand across categories, including the anchor book, passed ₹3.2 lakh crore on day one.
The anchor book raised ₹8,109.85 crore from 212 investors at ₹1,119. LIC took the largest block at ₹499.98 crore, SBI, HDFC and ICICI Prudential mutual funds took ₹425 crore each, and sovereign funds from Singapore and Abu Dhabi also joined. Reliance shareholders had a reserved quota of up to ₹2,500 crore, and employees got up to ₹500 crore at a ₹54 discount.
Notably, only about 2.90% of post-issue equity will be public. Analysts say index-tracking funds had reason to bid in the primary book rather than wait for thin secondary trading. A reported grey market premium of ₹243 to ₹280 is unregulated and speculative and it says little about value.
Brand first, balance sheet second
Part of the pull is familiarity. Jio serves over 50 crore wireless users, and the Reliance name carries retail trust. The offer is priced at about 33 times FY26 earnings, on revenue of ₹1,49,759 crore, up 16%, and net profit of ₹30,053 crore, up 15%. Operating margin is about 52.5%, and monthly revenue per user is ₹215.6. Meanwhile, the demand came in a week of weak secondary markets, hit by high crude prices and foreign portfolio outflows. It shows how domestic liquidity can cushion very large offers.
Many users, few rivals
TRAI data for August puts Jio at 508.43 million wireless subscribers and a 39.31% share, just ahead of Bharti Airtel at 491.60 million and 38.01%. Jio’s active ratio is 98.8%, and 284.9 million users are on standalone 5G. It also has 28.6 million broadband premises, and fixed wireless access takes over 75% of new home broadband additions.
Data prices fell from about ₹268 a gigabyte in 2014 to under ₹8 in 2026. Jio carries roughly 43% of national mobile data traffic, which supports UPI, Aadhaar authentication and benefit transfers. The flip side is concentration. Jio and Airtel together hold 77.32% of wireless and 84% of broadband, after exits and insolvencies among older rivals.
Fresh money, old debt
Up to ₹27,500 crore of proceeds will prepay borrowings at Reliance Jio Infocomm. Gross fund-based debt stood at ₹62,137.5 crore on 30 June. The reported net leverage of 0.36 times excludes ₹1,04,514 crore of deferred spectrum dues to the Department of Telecommunications and ₹13,888 crore of lease liabilities. The offer is therefore more a balance sheet restructuring than growth funding, though lower interest costs turn more operating profit into free cash.
Wide reach, tight grip
Reliance Retail, a group company, is the sole master distributor of Jio’s prepaid services. Prepaid brought in ₹1,12,935 crore, or 77.08% of FY26 revenue, so any disruption there would hit revenue directly. Content makers face uneven bargaining power against an owner of both the network and the customer interface. The Jio name is also shared with group firms Jio Platforms does not control, such as Jio Financial Services.
Clocks to watch, risks to weigh
Several risks sit in the prospectus. TRAI has issued 17 orders with penalties of about ₹27.1 crore over service quality and spam, with interim relief from the appellate tribunal. GST demands of ₹6,795.5 crore over input credit on towers are not booked as contingent liabilities. The prospectus also flags satellite broadband as a competitor, and the master licence is due for renewal in October 2033.
The calendar is firm. Allotment is on 26 October and listing on 28 October. Half the anchor shares unlock on 25 November and the rest on 24 January 2027, and the public float must reach 25% by October 2029. Revenue per user moving towards ₹250 to ₹300, interest savings, margins above 52.5% and index inclusion will show how the story develops.
Encouragingly, domestic institutions and savers absorbed a record issue without leaning on foreign money. Ultimately, the listing and the first unlock will show whether a 2.9% float can carry a $107 billion company.
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