Jio Platforms' $3.2 Billion IPO Draws About $25 Billion in Anchor Bids, Two People Familiar Say

Since Jio Platforms filed draft IPO papers in June, the deal has grown into what is set to be India's largest public share sale. Today, Oct. 19, it cleared its first real test.

Two people familiar with the matter say the $3.2 billion offering drew bids of about $25 billion from institutions on the first day of the anchor round. That works out to almost 30 times the portion reserved for anchor investors. Anchors can take up to 30% of the offering before the public gets a look.

Fidelity, Singapore's GIC, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and BlackRock were among the bidders, according to the two people. Reliance, Jio's ultimate owner, did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did ADIA, BlackRock, Fidelity or GIC.

The size of the deal

Jio is set to raise up to $3.2 billion at a valuation of roughly $108.3 billion, according to Business Standard. The offer is about ₹30,213 crore.

The previous Indian record was Hyundai Motor India's 278 billion-rupee offering in October 2024. Jio's raise tops it.

People with knowledge of the discussions told Bloomberg on Oct. 9 that the company was weighing a price band of ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 per share. At the top end, Bloomberg's math put the raise near 302 billion rupees and the valuation at up to 10.3 trillion rupees, about $107 billion.

Those people also said the timeline, range and valuation were still under discussion and could change. The valuation target was lower than some earlier thinking.

In June, Jio filed to sell up to 270 million new shares. Bloomberg estimates that is about 2.93% of post-issue equity. Nineteen banks are on the mandate, including Kotak Mahindra Capital, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Axis Capital, BNP Paribas and Citigroup.

What Jio is, and where the money goes

Jio upended Indian telecoms in 2016 with free voice calls and cheap data. It now has more than 500 million subscribers and competes with Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.

The company runs Reliance Industries' telecom and digital businesses: mobile, fixed broadband, cloud, entertainment, enterprise technology and AI. Akash Ambani, Mukesh Ambani's son, leads it.

Up to 275 billion rupees, about $2.90 billion at 94.9475 rupees to the dollar, of the net proceeds would go to repay or prepay borrowings of its telecom subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm. Jio's managing director has said the proceeds will make the company net-debt-free, Business Standard reported.

So most of the cash raised goes to paying down debt rather than to growth spending.

Why the anchor number matters

The listing is seen as a test of what global investors will pay for Jio's scale and for its push into cloud and AI. Anchor demand of this size suggests big institutions are willing to engage at the proposed range.

It is not the final word. Anchor books are filled by large funds that are often courted in advance. Retail and wider institutional demand arrives in the public window, and the share price on debut is what ultimately sets the verdict.

Business Standard separately reported that Reliance is encouraging its 420,000 employees to take part in the offering.

The backdrop is friendly. Indian IPO proceeds are up 8.3% year to date to $12.65 billion, according to LSEG data, and September brought the listing of the National Stock Exchange of India.

This is Reliance's first public offering since its listing of Reliance Petroleum in 2006.

What comes next

A successful listing would put Jio among India's top four listed companies by market value. It would sit behind Reliance, Bharti Airtel and HDFC Bank.

Public subscription opens Wednesday, Oct. 21. According to the schedule reported by Bloomberg on Oct. 9, bidding runs through Oct. 23, with trading targeted for Oct. 28.

No final pricing has been confirmed in the material from Reliance or the company. The first day of trading on Oct. 28 is when the market will settle what Jio is worth.