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Jio Platforms’ $3.2 billion initial public offering has been subscribed more than five times as investors pile into India’s largest-ever IPO, providing a strong market endorsement for one of Mukesh Ambani’s most important businesses.
Demand accelerated on the second day of the offering, with qualified institutional buyers bidding for almost 12 times the shares allocated to them. Retail investors had subscribed for 1.45 times their allocation, meaning the retail portion of the IPO was also fully covered.
The response builds on an unusually strong opening. Jio’s IPO was fully subscribed within 90 minutes of bidding beginning, driven by institutional investors who filled their allocation within minutes.
The offering is seeking to raise around $3.2 billion and values Jio Platforms at up to $108.3 billion. Trading is expected to begin on October 28.
For Reliance Industries, the listing represents more than a capital-raising exercise. It is the group’s first IPO in 20 years and forms part of Mukesh Ambani’s long-term effort to transform Reliance from a business historically dominated by oil and chemicals into a broader consumer, retail and technology group.
Jio has been central to that transformation. Its telecom business entered the Indian market in 2016 with low-cost mobile data and free voice calls, rapidly gaining customers from established competitors.
The business now has more than 500 million telecom subscribers, making it India’s largest operator and the world’s second-largest telecom operator by customers within a single country, behind China Mobile.
Jio has also attracted some of the world’s largest technology and institutional investors. Meta owns close to 10% of Jio Platforms, while Google and other global investors participated in a major fundraising round in 2020.
Ahead of the IPO, Jio allocated $853 million of shares to more than 200 domestic and international investors, including BlackRock and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Demand for that reserved portion exceeded $25 billion.
The strength of institutional demand for the IPO suggests investors are prepared to back the next phase of Jio’s development, despite questions over how quickly it can broaden its earnings base beyond telecommunications.
Telecom currently generates around 90% of Jio Platforms’ revenue. The company is seeking to develop a broader technology business spanning 5G, home broadband, cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
That transition will be important to justifying Jio’s valuation as a listed company. Its dominant telecom position provides a huge customer base, but investors will increasingly assess whether those relationships can generate growth across newer digital and technology services.
The IPO is also an important moment for the next generation of Reliance’s leadership. Akash Ambani, managing director of Jio Platforms and chairman of its telecom subsidiary Reliance Jio Infocomm, has taken an increasingly prominent role in presenting the business to investors.
Akash led Jio’s recent IPO presentation, where he discussed the company’s customer base and profitability. His growing public role comes as Mukesh Ambani remains chairman of Jio Platforms and continues to oversee the wider Reliance group.
The listing therefore puts both Jio’s strategy and the Ambani family’s evolving leadership structure under greater public scrutiny. Once Jio becomes a separately listed company, its executives will face the expectations, disclosure requirements and market discipline that accompany a major publicly traded business.
The early demand gives Jio a strong starting position. Institutional investors have shown particularly significant appetite for the offering, while full subscription of the retail allocation demonstrates that demand extends beyond major financial institutions.
The more important test begins after the shares start trading. Jio has already transformed India’s telecommunications market and built one of the country’s largest digital customer bases. As a listed company, its leadership will now have to demonstrate that scale can support sustained earnings growth and turn Jio into the broader technology platform envisioned by the Ambani family.