Key Highlights

  • Bids covering the full USD 3.2 billion Jio Platforms offer arrived within two hours of the window opening on Wednesday.
  • The price range of 1,065 to 1,119 rupees per share values the company at up to USD 108.3 billion.
  • Institutions bid for 3.92 times their allotment, while retail investors had covered 0.35 times theirs by Wednesday.
  • A recent National Stock Exchange share sale drew 42% on day one, and Hyundai Motor India's drew 18%.

Demand Arrives Faster Than Usual

Jio Platforms, the telecom and digital arm of billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance group, received enough bids to cover its entire USD 3.2 billion offer within two hours of public bidding opening on Wednesday. The sale is the largest in India's history and the first from a Reliance company in about two decades. It stays open until Friday.

Large Indian offerings tend to start slowly, because institutional buyers often hold back until the final hours. The National Stock Exchange of India's recent sale was only 42% covered on its first day, and Hyundai Motor India's was 18%. A founder of an asset management firm called Jio's early bids surprising and credited the telecom business, pointing to its fundamentals and valuation.

Who Is Buying

Exchange data showed institutions had bid for 3.92 times the portion set aside for them. Retail buyers, who have about a third of the issue reserved, had bid for 0.35 times their quota. Employees and shareholders of Reliance can also take part.

Earlier in the week, Jio allotted shares worth USD 853 million to global and domestic investors, among them the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and BlackRock. The reserved anchor portion drew bids above USD 25 billion.

The Business Behind the Offer

Jio's telecom unit began in 2016, wagering on far more Indians coming online if data cost close to nothing. Cheap data and free voice calls pulled customers from Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. Jio now has more than 500 million subscribers, making it the second-largest operator in a single country after China Mobile.

Telecoms account for more than 90% of Jio Platforms' revenue. In the year to March it earned about USD 3.2 billion in profit on USD 15.5 billion of revenue. Meta and Google are among its backers. At the top of the range the company is valued at USD 108.3 billion, below Bharti Airtel's market capitalisation of USD 123.38 billion on Wednesday.

A Long-Delayed Listing

Ambani first promised a listing within five years in 2019, and the plan slipped again in 2025. A filing aimed at March was put off after the Iran war dampened appetite for new issues. The offer arrives during the Hindu festive season, a period considered auspicious for purchases, though Indian markets have been subdued for weeks.

Reliance's own shares, listed since 1977, have risen roughly 330-fold since 1990, according to market data, which has made the group a long-standing savings vehicle for many households. A person with knowledge of the matter said Reliance paid its more than 400,000 employees about 15 days early this month and helped them open share accounts to apply. Reliance did not respond to a request for comment on the offer.