India's biggest IPO off to record start: Jio Platforms subscribed 3.2 times on Day 1

Mumbai: Jio Platforms Limited's (JPL) Rs 30,213-crore initial public offering (IPO), India's largest ever, closed its first day of bidding on Wednesday with an overall subscription of 3.2 times, driven by overwhelming demand from institutional investors. The issue had achieved full subscription within just 100 minutes of opening, setting a new benchmark for the speed of subscription among India's mega public offerings.

The IPO witnessed strong investor interest throughout the day, with the Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIB) portion emerging as the biggest contributor. The category was subscribed 9.42 times by the close of bidding, extending the momentum seen during the company's record-breaking anchor investor allocation.

The issue had attracted more than 20 lakh applications within the first four hours of opening. By 1 pm, it had received 20,73,475 applications and was subscribed 1.68 times. Demand subsequently climbed to 2.35 times by 2.45 pm before reaching 3.2 times at the end of the first day.

Institutional investors accounted for much of the surge, with the QIB portion rising from 4.86 times subscription at 1 pm to 7.09 times by 2.45 pm, before closing at 9.42 times.

The strong institutional response followed an equally significant anchor-investor allocation earlier this week. Jio allotted shares worth approximately Rs 8,110 crore to 212 anchor investors at Rs 1,119 per share on Monday.

The anchor book reportedly attracted demand exceeding Rs 2.5 lakh crore, representing more than 30 times the shares available for allocation. Global sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and domestic mutual funds were among the institutional investors seeking a stake in the company.

Demand from non-institutional investors, including high-net-worth individuals (HNIs), also strengthened as the day progressed. The category, which had been subscribed 1.03 times by mid-afternoon, closed at 1.83 times.

Reliance Industries employees and existing shareholders also showed considerable interest in the offering.

The employee reservation portion was subscribed 1.36 times by the end of the day, while the shareholder category recorded 1.46 times subscription.

The IPO includes a reserved portion of up to Rs 2,500 crore for eligible Reliance Industries shareholders and up to Rs 500 crore for employees.

Eligible Reliance shareholders can apply under both the retail and shareholder categories, providing them with an additional opportunity to secure an allotment.

Retail participation also gathered momentum, with the segment attracting bids worth more than Rs 6,900 crore on the opening day. According to the company, this represented the highest value of retail bids received by an Indian IPO on its first day.

The pace of Jio's subscription stands out when compared with several major public offerings in recent years.

Bajaj Housing Finance's IPO achieved full subscription by 2 pm on its opening day, while LG Electronics India's public issue reached the same milestone by the end of Day 1 in 2025.

Hyundai Motor India's Rs 27,870-crore IPO, previously the country's largest, had received bids for only 18 per cent of the shares on offer by the end of its opening day in 2024.

Jio Platforms, in contrast, crossed the full subscription mark within 100 minutes despite its considerably larger issue size.

Another significant difference lies in the structure of the offering.

Unlike the IPOs of Hyundai Motor India and LG Electronics India, which consisted entirely of offers for sale by existing shareholders, Jio's public issue comprises a fresh issuance of 27 crore shares.

This means the proceeds will flow directly to Jio Platforms rather than to existing shareholders selling their stakes.

The company intends to deploy the funds towards expanding its next-generation digital network, cloud computing infrastructure and artificial intelligence-driven enterprise platforms.

The IPO has been priced between Rs 1,065 and Rs 1,119 per share, valuing Jio Platforms at approximately USD 108 billion at the upper end of the price band.

The public offering represents a major step in Jio's plans to expand beyond its core telecommunications business into digital services, cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence.

With a reported customer base of 533.3 million, the company aims to leverage its extensive connectivity network to develop higher-margin technology and enterprise businesses.

The strong opening-day response has also heightened expectations surrounding the company's stock market debut.

Investment bankers expect Jio Platforms to rank among India's five most valuable listed companies by market capitalisation following its listing, although its eventual position will depend on the market valuation at debut.

Market participants believe subscription figures could rise further over the remaining two days, as some institutional investors, high-net-worth individuals and retail bidders typically place their applications towards the end of an IPO subscription window.

The issue will remain open for bidding until Friday, October 23.

According to the announced schedule, the basis of allotment is expected to be finalised on Monday, October 26, followed by the credit of shares to successful applicants' demat accounts on Tuesday, October 27.

Jio Platforms shares are scheduled to make their stock market debut on the BSE and NSE on Wednesday, October 28.