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Ambani’s Jio seeks to raise $3.2B in what could be India’s biggest IPO
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- DeepHorus
Jio Platforms, the digital arm of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, is seeking up to $3.2 billion in an initial public offering that could become India’s largest ever. The company set a price band of ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 per share for up to 270 million new shares. The IPO opens for subscription on October 21 and closes on October 23, with anchor bidding on October 19. At the top end, Jio would be valued at about ₹10.3 trillion, or $108.3 billion.
The offering would surpass Hyundai Motor India’s ₹278.7 billion IPO in 2024, the current record. Jio’s listing tests public-market appetite for a company that raised more than $20 billion from global investors in 2020. Meta invested $5.7 billion and Google committed $4.5 billion when Jio was valued at up to ₹4.91 trillion, about $65 billion then.
Since launching in 2016, Jio has become India’s largest telecom operator, with over 524 million subscribers as of March 31. It initially won customers with free data and cheap plans, but now prices are comparable to rivals. It has expanded into broadband, cloud services, and other digital businesses.
In the quarter ended June, Jio’s revenue rose nearly 12% year over year to ₹391.7 billion, or about $4.1 billion. Net profit climbed 9% to ₹77.6 billion, around $816 million, according to its IPO prospectus. Jio has set aside shares worth up to ₹25 billion for eligible Reliance shareholders and ₹5 billion for employees, who get a ₹54 per-share discount.
Jio plans to use up to ₹275 billion, about $2.9 billion, to repay debt at Reliance Jio Infocomm. The remaining proceeds will go toward general corporate purposes. The IPO arrives amid criticism from Elon Musk, who accused Ambani of trying to keep Starlink out of India. Indian authorities have rejected Musk’s claims.
Jio and rival Airtel signed deals with SpaceX more than a year ago to distribute Starlink’s satellite internet service in India, subject to regulatory approvals. The listing could reshape India’s capital markets and strengthen Jio’s position in telecom and digital services. Its success will signal how much public investors trust Ambani’s digital expansion story.
