Jio Platforms raises Rs 8,110 crore from anchor investors

Jio Platforms has allotted shares worth Rs 8,109.85 crore to 212 anchor investors at the top of its price band, after institutional demand topped Rs 2.5 lakh crore, more than 30 times the amount on offer, according to a stock exchange filing and people familiar with the matter.

The company allotted 7.24 crore shares at Rs 1,119 each. The initial public offering opens for public subscription Wednesday, October 21, and closes Friday, October 23. It is expected to be India’s largest IPO. How far the institutional interest carries over to the wider public will become clear only once the offer opens.

Life Insurance Corporation of India received the largest allocation, worth Rs 499.98 crore, or 6.17 percent of the anchor portion. New World Fund Inc. was allotted Rs 486.27 crore, followed by the Government of Singapore at Rs 340.93 crore, SBI Focused Fund at Rs 315 crore and BNP Paribas Financial Markets – ODI at Rs 303.25 crore.

Domestic mutual funds received 2.489 crore shares worth Rs 2,784.96 crore, or 34.34 percent of the anchor book, through 95 schemes across 25 fund houses. Life insurers and pension funds received 97.4 lakh shares worth Rs 1,089.95 crore, or 13.44 percent. Both shares are above the 33.33 percent and 6.67 percent reserved for them in the red herring prospectus dated Oct. 14.

Global participants include BlackRock, Capital Group, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, Schroders, JPMorgan Asset Management, Franklin Templeton and Janus Henderson. Sovereign and public institutions include the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. People familiar with the matter said some large overseas and domestic institutions bid for Rs 750 million to more than $1 billion each.

Jio Platforms aims to raise about Rs 30,213 crore through a fresh issue of up to 27 crore shares in a price band of Rs 1,065 to Rs 1,119. The offer documents value the company at about $108 billion.

It plans to use part of the proceeds to repay debt at its telecom subsidiary and the rest for general corporate purposes. Reliance Industries Ltd., controlled by Mukesh Ambani, will keep a majority stake after the listing.

The anchor portion is about 27 percent of the total IPO. Domestic mutual funds, insurers and pension funds took nearly half of it.

Jio Platforms has grown into one of the world’s largest mobile operators by subscribers since Reliance entered telecom a decade ago. It has expanded into broadband, digital entertainment, cloud and enterprise services. Reported company figures show 533.3 million subscribers as of June 2026 and nearly 60 percent of India’s data traffic.

Analysts said strong anchor demand does not guarantee similar enthusiasm among retail investors or gains after listing. They said investors will weigh Jio’s subscriber base and digital services opportunities against competitive pressure, regulatory risks, capital needs and its ability to turn scale into lasting revenue and profit growth.