Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is preparing to launch what could be India’s biggest-ever IPO, despite a market downturn. Mumbai-based Jio Platforms, backed by Meta and Google, aims to raise up to Rs 302 billion (£2.4 billion) at a valuation of Rs 10.3 trillion.
Founded a decade ago as a Reliance subsidiary and led by Ambani’s eldest son, Akash, Jio provides low-cost broadband to millions of Indians.
Ahead of the listing, Jio secured 212 anchor investors, including BlackRock, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Fidelity, Schroders, JP Morgan Asset Management, Franklin Templeton, Invesco and Prudential.
Reliance Industries said Jio Platforms has set a price band of Rs 1,065-Rs 1,119 per share for its IPO, offering up to 270 million new shares. The conglomerate is also encouraging its more than 400,000 employees to invest, offering them a Rs 54 discount per share.
At the upper price, Jio would be valued at Rs 10.3 trillion, making it India’s fourth-largest company, behind Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and HDFC Bank. This is more than double its Rs 4.9 trillion valuation in 2020, when Meta and Google invested, but well below early expectations of over £110 billion.
The IPO comes as India’s stock market slows, with the benchmark Nifty 50 index down more than 12% this year.
Since launching in September 2016, Jio has grown rapidly, reaching 100 million subscribers within 170 days and making mobile internet more affordable through a price war. By June this year, it had 533 million users, around a third of India’s population, making it the world’s third-largest telecom operator by subscribers. Its domestic rival, Bharti Airtel, had 492 million users in India.
Meta acquired a 10% stake in Jio in 2020, followed by Google with nearly 8%. However, analysts have questioned the company’s ability to generate greater revenue from its large customer base.
Akash Ambani outlines Jio’s four growth drivers
Jio Platforms Ltd will prioritise monetising its existing infrastructure and expanding services over relying on tariff hikes for growth, Managing Director Akash Ambani said at a pre-IPO press conference.
He identified mobility, home, enterprise and international technology monetisation as the company’s four key growth drivers. Jio plans to expand overseas through partnerships, offering its technology stack as a managed-services provider to telecom operators rather than selling hardware or software licences.
Jio Platforms aims to raise over Rs 30,000 crore through India’s largest IPO, using most proceeds to reduce debt and funding future expansion through internal cash flows.
The company operates over 3.6 lakh telecom towers and one million kilometres of fibre, with plans to introduce 6G through software upgrades. Over five years, it aims to add 100 million first-time subscribers, migrate 240 million 2G users to 4G and 5G, and expand home broadband beyond its current reach of nearly 40 million households.
Kotak Investment Bank Chairman Uday Kotak said JPL’s valuation was about 17% below that of its closest peer based on FY26 earnings. Director Isha Ambani highlighted Reliance Industries’ 29% annualised return since its 1977 listing, reaffirming the family’s commitment to “Growth is Life”.
