NEW DELHI: Jio Platforms Ltd's initial public offering was fully subscribed within 100 minutes of opening on Wednesday, the fastest any issue has reached full subscription, PTI reported, citing data on the BSE website.
The Rs 30,213-crore offer is priced in a band of Rs 1,065 to Rs 1,119 a share. It drew the first rush from institutions. The portion marked for Qualified Institutional Buyers crossed full subscription in the first 10 minutes and almost doubled in under 30 minutes. It had reached 2.86 times demand by 10 am, PTI reported, citing sources. The overall book, at 0.83 times when that figure was recorded, crossed full subscription within 100 minutes, according to BSE data.
The issue remains open until October 23. It is a fresh issue of up to 27 crore shares with no offer-for-sale component, so no existing shareholder is selling. At the top of its price band, Jio Platforms is valued at about USD 108 billion. The offer is set to exceed Hyundai Motor India's Rs 27,870-crore IPO from 2024 to become India's largest ever by value.
The Qualified Institutional Buyers portion comprises 4,90,07,827 shares. On Monday, the company had allotted shares worth about Rs 8,110 crore to 212 anchor investors at Rs 1,119 apiece, the top of its price band. Bids for that anchor allocation exceeded Rs 2.5 lakh crore, more than 30 times the amount available, PTI reported, citing people familiar with the matter. One person put total demand at about USD 26 billion.
Jio Platforms is betting that its technology, artificial intelligence and cloud ambitions will drive growth beyond telecom. Managing director Akash Ambani said this on Tuesday, pitching the Reliance Industries unit as a technology company ahead of what is set to be India's biggest-ever IPO. "There is no either-or at Jio: the network is our technology," Ambani told PTI, pointing to the company's in-house 5G core, cloud-native radio access network and software platform serving 533.3 million customers. "Connectivity was the first product we built on that platform. Digital services, AI and cloud are what we are layering on top of it now," he said.
Grey market activity pointed to a strong listing. Platforms tracking the unofficial trade quoted a premium of 22 to 23 per cent over the issue price, Moneycontrol reported. Investorgain quoted a premium of Rs 247 a share, implying a 22.1 per cent listing gain, while IPO Watch put the premium at 23.2 per cent.
Brokerages were largely positive. Motilal Oswal recommended subscribing "for listing gains and long term", citing the company's nationwide 5G network and its JioAirFiber fixed wireless broadband business, Moneycontrol reported. It said operating margins widened from 50.16 per cent in FY24 to 53.26 per cent in the first quarter of FY27. HDFC Securities cited the company's proprietary technology stack and network infrastructure. Emkay Global called the issue reasonably priced given Jio's market leadership and improving cash generation as its 5G investment cycle winds down. SBICAPS said the pricing reflected the company's scale and monetisation potential, and that planned debt repayment would lower leverage and strengthen cash flows.
The offer includes a reservation of shares worth Rs 500 crore for Jio Platforms employees, at a discount of Rs 54 a share to the final offer price. It also reserves Rs 2,500 crore worth of shares for eligible shareholders of parent Reliance Industries, Moneycontrol reported. Allotment is expected to be finalised by October 26. The shares are proposed to list on both the BSE and the NSE on October 28.
Jio Platforms has grown into one of the world's largest mobile operators by subscriber numbers in the decade since Reliance entered the telecom market. It has expanded from mobile connectivity into broadband, digital entertainment, cloud and enterprise services. It had 533.3 million subscribers as of June 2026, accounted for about 60 per cent of India's wireless data traffic, and holds India's largest spectrum bank at 26,800.8 MHz, according to Moneycontrol, citing company figures. Reliance Industries will retain a majority stake in the company after the listing.
The IPO comes as investors weigh whether the country's largest telecom operator can convert its subscriber base into higher-margin revenue from digital services, enterprise technology and artificial intelligence. Subscriber growth alone is becoming a less powerful driver of expansion.
(With inputs from PTI)