Jio Platforms, billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Indian telecom and digital services unit backed by Meta and Google, rose 21% in its stock market debut on Wednesday after raising $3.2 billion in India’s largest and most subscribed IPO, which attracted more than $77 billion in investor bids. The shares opened at 1,358 rupees (about $14) each, against their IPO price of 1,119 rupees (about $12). That valued Jio at about 12.5 trillion rupees (about $131.9 billion), making it India’s second most valuable listed company after its parent, Reliance Industries, which is worth about 16 trillion rupees (about $168.6 billion). In 2020, when Meta and Google invested, Jio was valued at up to Rs 4.91 trillion (around $65 billion at the time). The offering, which ran from October 21 to 22, attracted bids for 22.19 times the shares for sale, according to exchange data. More than 13.8 million people applied. This made it India’s most subscribed share offering ever recorded, reflecting strong investor demand for shares of the country’s largest telecom operator. In 2016, Jio entered what was then a crowded Indian telecom market, offering free data and low-cost services. That helped it quickly win customers from established operators including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and state-owned BSNL. Since then it has become the largest telecommunications operator in the country. Akash Ambani (pictured above), CEO of Jio Platforms, said at Wednesday’s listing ceremony that its platforms serve more than 540 million customers. Jio’s pricing is now in line with its rivals, but its business has expanded into broadband, cloud services and artificial intelligence. Mukesh Ambani’s eldest son Akash has taken on a larger role at Jio as his father gradually hands over more responsibilities to Reliance’s next generation of leadership. At the listing ceremony, he said he wants Jio to become a global technology company. “My dream is that one day, when the world counts its big technology companies, one of them will be from India and that company will be called Jio Platforms Limited,” he said. Jio made a profit of Rs 300.5 billion (about $3.2 billion) on revenue of Rs 1.47 trillion (about $15.5 billion) in the fiscal year ending March 2026, with both figures up about 15% from a year earlier. In the June quarter, Jio’s revenue grew nearly 12% and profits rose 9%. Of the IPO proceeds, Jio plans to use up to Rs 275 billion (about $2.9 billion) to pay down the debt of its telecom subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm, with the rest for general corporate purposes. Jio had total loans of Rs 613.7 billion (about $6.5 billion) as of June 30. Jio raised billions of dollars from US investors during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Meta, then known as Facebook, invested $5.7 billion, while Google contributed $4.5 billion. General Atlantic, Silver Lake and Vista Equity Partners were among the other investors backing the company. None sold shares in the IPO, which consisted entirely of newly issued shares. When you buy through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This does not affect our editorial independence.
