India’s biggest IPO? Jio Platforms gets Sebi approval for $3.8 billion issue

NEW DELHI: Jio Platforms Ltd, the digital services arm of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, has received approval from market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to proceed with its proposed initial public offering (IPO), paving the way for what could become India’s largest-ever stock market listing.

Sebi issued its final observations on the company’s draft IPO papers on Friday, 28 August, according to an update on the regulator’s website. Jio Platforms had filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) in June.

Reliance Industries said in a regulatory filing that its subsidiary had received Sebi’s observation letter for the proposed public offering.

Jio Platforms plans to issue up to 27 crore fresh equity shares, representing around 2.9 per cent of its post-issue equity base, according to its draft prospectus.

The IPO is estimated to raise around Rs 37,700 crore ($3.8 billion) and could value Jio Platforms at approximately $137 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

If completed at the proposed size, the listing would overtake Hyundai Motor India’s $3.3 billion-equivalent IPO in 2024 to become the largest IPO in India. A proposed National Stock Exchange listing, estimated at around Rs 30,000 crore, would also be smaller.

Where will the IPO money go?

A large portion of the proceeds will be used to repay or prepay, either fully or partly, around Rs 27,500 crore in outstanding borrowings of Reliance Jio Infocomm, Jio Platforms’ key subsidiary, according to the draft prospectus.

The remaining funds will be used for general corporate purposes.

The proposed listing comes amid strong activity in India’s primary market, with retail investors and domestic institutions continuing to participate actively. More than two dozen IPOs have been announced or launched since 1 July, nearly matching the 28 offerings recorded during the first half of 2026.

Jio’s massive telecom footprint

Jio Platforms houses Reliance’s digital businesses, including its telecommunications operations.

Its telecom subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm, is the dominant player in India’s mobile market. It had more than 53.5 crore subscribers as of the end of July, making it the world’s second-largest single-country mobile operator by subscriber count after China Mobile.

Jio held a 39.29 per cent share of India’s mobile connections, with around 506 million customers, while its share of fixed-line connections stood at 32.89 per cent, with 157.9 million customers.

Jio Platforms also reported 26.85 crore 5G customers as of June 2026 and has the largest 5G standalone network outside China.

The company has expanded beyond telecom into areas including cloud computing, artificial intelligence and enterprise network services.

Jio Platforms reported a 15 per cent increase in profit after tax to Rs 30,053 crore and a 14.5 per cent rise in annual revenue to Rs 1,46,885 crore in FY26.

Global investors in Jio

Jio Platforms attracted major global technology and financial investors during its 2020 fundraising drive.

Meta invested Rs 43,574 crore for a 9.99 per cent stake, while Google invested Rs 33,737 crore for a 7.73 per cent holding.

Other investors, including Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, TPG, L Catterton, the Public Investment Fund, Intel Capital and Qualcomm Ventures, collectively invested around Rs 74,745 crore for roughly a 15.2 per cent stake.

According to the draft prospectus, Reliance Industries owns around 66.4 per cent of Jio Platforms, while Meta and Google together hold around 17.7 per cent.

First Reliance IPO since 2008

The proposed Jio Platforms IPO would be the first public offering from the Reliance group since 2008 and the first IPO of a consumer-focused business within the conglomerate.

Jio Platforms is chaired by Mukesh Ambani, while his eldest son, Akash Ambani, serves as its managing director. Akash Ambani is also chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm.

(PTI)