Jio Platforms Files Prospectus for $3.2 Billion IPO Opening Oct. 21, 14% Smaller Than Draft Plan

Since the Nifty 50 began sliding this year, with the Iran-US war disrupting crude supplies and US tariffs weighing on trade, India's equity market has had a rough run. Into that market, Jio Platforms is now asking investors for as much as $3.2 billion.

Jio, the digital arm of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, filed its red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India today, Oct. 14. Reliance disclosed the price band in a stock exchange filing the same day.

The terms

The band is ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 per share. Jio will sell 270 million new shares. At the top of the band, that raises about ₹30,200 crore, or roughly $3.2 billion, and values the company at about ₹10.3 trillion ($108 billion).

The calendar:

• Oct. 19: anchor investor bidding
• Oct. 21 to Oct. 23: subscription window
• Oct. 28: scheduled first day of trading

Retail investors bid in lots of 12 shares. Up to ₹25 billion in shares is set aside for eligible Reliance shareholders. Another ₹5 billion is reserved for employees, who get a ₹54 per share discount.

Smaller than first planned

The share count did not change, but the dollar figure did. The issue is about 14% below the roughly ₹35,000 crore proposed in the draft papers. Earlier reporting had put the target near $3.8 billion.

A person directly involved in the deal, speaking anonymously, said the size was trimmed after conversations with domestic mutual funds. "This ensures that there is enough left on the table [after listing] in terms of valuation and growth potential," the person said. Neither Jio nor Reliance has put that explanation on the record.

The record claim depends on the currency. In rupees, Jio surpasses Hyundai Motor India's ₹27,870 crore share sale from 2024. In dollars, Hyundai's $3.3 billion was a shade higher than Jio's roughly $3.2 billion, because the rupee traded near 84 to the dollar then.

Where the money goes

Up to ₹27,500 crore ($2.9 billion) will prepay borrowings at Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom subsidiary. The remainder is for general corporate purposes, according to the prospectus. The issue is entirely new shares, so the bulk of the cash goes to retiring debt rather than funding growth.

The business behind it is large. Jio had more than 524 million subscribers as of March 31 and about 60% of India's data traffic. In the quarter ended June, revenue rose nearly 12% from a year earlier to ₹391.7 billion (about $4.1 billion). Net profit climbed 9% to ₹77.6 billion (about $816 million).

Jio has also pushed past telecom into broadband, cloud services, entertainment and AI services.

Who owns it now

Reliance holds 66.43% of Jio Platforms. Meta owns 9.98% through Jaadhu Holdings, and Google International holds 7.73%. KKR and Vista Equity Partners each hold 2.31%.

The $108 billion pricing compares with the up to ₹4.91 trillion (about $65 billion at the time) valuation in 2020, when Jio raised more than $20 billion from global investors. Meta put in $5.7 billion and Google $4.5 billion.

Akash Ambani and Isha Ambani, Mukesh Ambani's children, led investor roadshows in the US, the UK, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore ahead of the filing.

A choppy market and a Musk dispute

The Nifty 50 fell for an eighth straight week in the week ended Oct. 1, its longest losing streak in 25 years. The index is down more than 13% so far this year.

The listing also arrives amid a public fight with Elon Musk. Musk has stepped up criticism of Ambani, accusing him of trying to keep Starlink out of India. That accusation comes more than a year after both Jio and rival Bharti Airtel signed deals with SpaceX to distribute Starlink satellite internet, subject to regulatory approvals. Indian authorities have rejected Musk's claims. Nothing in Jio's filing ties the dispute to the offering.

What comes next

Anchor bids on Oct. 19 will give the first read on institutional appetite at the ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 range. Public subscription then runs Oct. 21 to Oct. 23, with trading scheduled to start on the exchanges Oct. 28. Whether Jio prices at the top of the band, and how the stock trades against a ₹10.3 trillion valuation in a down market, will be settled within two weeks.