Mumbai: The Jio Platforms IPO opened for public bids on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, in what is set to be the largest initial public offering India has seen. Reliance Industries’ telecom and digital arm aims to raise about Rs 30,213 crore, roughly $3.2 billion, at the top of its price band, and the issue stays open until Friday, 23 October.
It is the first share sale from Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance group since 2006, Reuters reported, and the offer values Jio Platforms at up to $108.3 billion. Bidding opened at 10 am, according to Moneycontrol.
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Jio Platforms IPO: the key numbers
- Price band: Rs 1,065 to Rs 1,119 a share.
- Issue size: about Rs 30,213 crore at the upper end, made up entirely of fresh shares (up to 27 crore), so no existing shareholder is selling.
- Lot size: 12 shares, and multiples of 12 after that, The Times of India reported. At the top of the band one lot works out to Rs 13,428.
- Dates: bids close on 23 October; allotment is likely by 26 October; listing on BSE and NSE is planned for 28 October.
- Reserved portions: up to Rs 2,500 crore for eligible Reliance Industries shareholders and up to Rs 500 crore for employees, who get a discount of Rs 54 a share.
Retail investors are entitled to at least 35 per cent of the net offer, according to The Times of India, while Reuters put the retail portion at around a third of the shares on sale.
Record demand from anchor investors
Before the public window opened, Jio Platforms placed shares worth about Rs 8,109.84 crore, or roughly $853 million, with 212 anchor investors at Rs 1,119 each, the top of the band. Bids for the anchor book went past Rs 2.5 lakh crore, more than $25 billion, which Moneycontrol described as the first time an Indian IPO has drawn anchor demand of that size.
Global names in the anchor list include BlackRock, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Fidelity, Capital Group, Singapore’s GIC and Norway’s Norges Bank Investment Management. At home, Life Insurance Corporation of India took the single largest allocation at about Rs 500 crore, and domestic mutual funds together received shares worth Rs 2,784.96 crore, about 34 per cent of the anchor book, The Times of India reported.
Bigger than Hyundai, first from Reliance in two decades
The issue is larger than Hyundai Motor India’s Rs 27,870 crore offer in 2024, which had held the record until now. Mukesh Ambani first promised a Jio listing in 2019, and the plan slipped more than once. Reuters said a filing for as early as March this year was pushed back after the Iran war cooled appetite for new listings.
Reliance has also worked to bring small investors in. The company paid its more than 400,000 employees their October salaries about 15 days early and helped people open share accounts in recent weeks, Reuters reported, citing a person in the industry with direct knowledge of the matter.
Based on current BSE rankings, Jio Platforms would become India’s fourth most valuable listed company after listing, behind Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and HDFC Bank, The Times of India said.
What the money will be used for
Up to Rs 27,500 crore of the net proceeds will go towards repaying or prepaying loans taken by Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom subsidiary, with the rest kept for general corporate purposes. Reliance Industries will still own a majority of Jio Platforms after the listing; the new shares make up about 2.9 per cent of the enlarged equity, Moneycontrol reported.
Managing Director Akash Ambani told PTI that the company’s net debt to EBITDA ratio fell to 0.36 times in 2025/26 from 0.88 times in 2023/24, and that the IPO would give it more room to invest in 5G, home broadband, artificial intelligence, cloud services and enterprise business.
Jio’s business in numbers
Jio launched its mobile service in 2016 with very cheap data and free voice calls, and quickly took customers from rivals such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. It had 533.3 million subscribers as of June 2026 and carried close to 60 per cent of India’s wireless data traffic, according to the offer details cited by Moneycontrol and The Times of India. Reuters called it the world’s second largest telecom operator within a single country, after China Mobile.
Revenue from operations rose to Rs 1.46 lakh crore in 2025/26 from Rs 1.28 lakh crore a year earlier, and net profit climbed to Rs 30,049 crore from Rs 26,109 crore, The Times of India reported. Reuters said about 90 per cent of revenue and profit comes from the telecom business alone.
“There is no either or at Jio: the network is our technology,” Akash Ambani told PTI, pointing to the company’s own 5G core and software platform. He said about 26 crore Indians still use 2G phones and only about 21 per cent of households have fixed broadband, which he sees as room to grow.
What brokerages and the market are saying
Several brokerages have published positive notes. Motilal Oswal recommended subscribing “for listing gains and long term”, and Canara Bank Securities advised subscribing with a long term view, according to The Times of India. Emkay Global called the issue reasonably priced, Moneycontrol reported. These are the brokerages’ own views; Bharat Stories does not give investment advice.
The sale comes at a shaky moment for markets. The Nifty 50 and Sensex each fell more than 1 per cent on Monday, Indian markets were shut on Tuesday for Dussehra, and Brent crude was trading around $110 a barrel, Reuters reported.
How to apply and what to check
Retail investors can bid through their bank’s ASBA facility or a UPI mandate from a broker app, in lots of 12 shares. Bidding at the cut off price means paying whatever final price is fixed within the band. Our guide on how to choose the right IPO explains how to read an offer document before applying.
The listing also follows recent changes at the market regulator; earlier this month we reported that SEBI extended its IPO size relaxation until March 2027. For a wider look at the surge in first time investors, read our piece on retail investors and India’s new stock market culture.
FAQ
When does the Jio Platforms IPO close?
Bidding runs from 21 October to 23 October 2026, and the shares are due to list on 28 October.
What is the minimum amount needed to apply?
One lot is 12 shares, which costs Rs 13,428 at the upper price of Rs 1,119.
Sources
- Reuters, 21 October 2026: issue opens, $3.2 billion size, $108.3 billion valuation, first Reliance IPO since 2006, anchor allocation, listing plans and delays, early salaries, revenue and profit share from telecom.
- Reuters, 21 October 2026 (market preview): Nifty and Sensex fall on Monday, market holiday on Tuesday, Brent crude near $110, anchor investors.
- The Times of India, 21 October 2026: Rs 30,213 crore size, lot of 12 shares, reservations, 35 per cent retail portion, Hyundai comparison, BSE ranking, use of proceeds, Akash Ambani interview with PTI, 2025/26 financials, anchor details, brokerage views.
- Moneycontrol, 21 October 2026: opening time, 212 anchor investors and Rs 2.5 lakh crore anchor demand, 2.9 per cent dilution, employee discount, allotment and listing dates, subscriber and data traffic figures, brokerage notes. Moneycontrol is part of Network18, which is controlled by a trust whose sole beneficiary is Reliance Industries.
- Firstpost, 21 October 2026: cross check of size, price band, valuation, closing date and listing date. Firstpost is also part of Network18.