Jio Platforms overtakes Airtel to become India’s second-most valuable company after blockbuster debut

Jio Platforms has made a blockbuster stock market debut, emerging as India’s second-most valuable listed company after its shares opened at a 21.36% premium over the issue price on Wednesday. The Reliance Industries-backed digital services company overtook Bharti Airtel in the market capitalisation rankings, putting it behind only its parent company.

Jio Platforms shares began trading at ₹1,358 on both the BSE and NSE, compared with the initial public offering (IPO) price of ₹1,119. During early trading on the BSE, the company’s market valuation reached ₹12.5 lakh crore.

That placed Jio Platforms ahead of Bharti Airtel, valued at ₹12.05 lakh crore, while Reliance Industries retained the top position with a market capitalisation of ₹15.89 lakh crore.

Jio Platforms vs Airtel: The market cap race

Jio Platforms’ debut reshaped the rankings of India’s most valuable companies. Based on the valuations reported during early trade, the top five were:

Reliance Industries — ₹15.89 lakh crore

Jio Platforms — ₹12.50 lakh crore

Bharti Airtel — ₹12.05 lakh crore

HDFC Bank — ₹10.42 lakh crore

ICICI Bank — ₹9.80 lakh crore

Jio Platforms and Reliance Industries together commanded a market valuation of around ₹28.4 lakh crore. Reliance owns a 66.4% stake in Jio Platforms.

The strong debut followed an exceptionally high level of investor demand for Jio Platforms’ ₹30,213 crore IPO, which was open from October 21 to October 23.

The issue received bids for 22.19 times the shares on offer. Demand across the public issue and anchor investor placement exceeded ₹7.4 lakh crore, while applications approached 1.39 crore.

The IPO was entirely a fresh issue of 27 crore shares, with the price band set at ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 per share.

On the opening day, the issue was fully subscribed within 100 minutes, making it the fastest-subscribed mega public offering in India.

With PTI inputs