IPO proceeds will make us net-debt-free company: Jio Platforms MD

The initial public offering (IPO) of Jio Platforms, the digital arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), is the first from the group in nearly two decades. Jio Financial Services Ltd listed in August 2023 following its demerger from Reliance Industries. There was no IPO.

Industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani, the founder of the group, took Reliance Textile Industries, which later became RIL, public in 1977. What makes this IPO special is that, unlike the other big issues in the past, it has no offer for sale. “The full proceeds take us to be a net-debt-free company,” said Akash Ambani, managing director of Jio Platforms.

The Reliance family has presented the issue as an offer that leaves money on the table for shareholders. At the top end of brand values, Jio is valued at 34 times its FY26 earnings per share, while Bharti Airtel, its closest listed rival, trades at about 39 times. “Part of Reliance’s philoso­phy, and one that really has been passed on to us from my grandfather’s time, is to create shareholder value,” Isha Amb­ani, RIL non-executive director, said at a press conference in Mumbai on Thursday.

“It is most important to be able to price this attractively so that shareholders who come in can create long-term value along with the growth of Jio Platforms.” The IPO will begin on October 21, with a price band of Rs 1,065-1,119 a share. The company has 533 million customers and carries about 60 per cent of India’s wireless data traffic. In 2025-26 (FY26), it earned nearly Rs 1.47 trillion in revenue; Rs 76,255 crore in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation; and Rs 30,049 crore in net profit.

From Reliance Textile to Jio Uday Kotak, founder of Kotak Mahindra Bank, linked the issue to Reliance’s first public offer when as a 15-year-old he had seen celebrations in Marine Drive. This inspired him to get into financial services. “The RIL group, since 1977, has believed in making it attractive for investors to be long-term with the group,” Kotak said.

That offer had brought a generation of small investors into the market, and Reliance has built its identity around them since. Isha Ambani said RIL had delivered a 29 per cent annualised return since that listing. “For him (Dhirubhai Ambani), Reliance was never just a company.

Reliance is a promise that every Indian should have the opportunity to participate in India’s growth, to share in India’s prosperity,” she said of her grandfather, who popularised the IPO culture in India. “Three generations later, we carry forward not only his vision but also the trust of millions of shareholders who believed in his vision and made it their own.” She said the group judged its businesses against two goals. “The first is that we like to create and protect fortress-like balance sheets, and the second is that we steer our businesses towards generating compounding free cash flow,” she said.

“Financial prudence is embedded in our DNA.” She pointed to Mukesh Am­bani’s promise in 2019 to make RIL net debt-free by 2021. “Covid came along with it, and along with that came a global slowdown. And yet, nine months ahead of schedule, that promise was delivered on.

And that is what shareholder commitment means to us at Reliance.” Uday Kotak said investors’ demand shaped the price of the issue. The design of the issue After the IPO, RIL’s stake will fall from 66.43 per cent to around 64.5 per cent. Meta’s affiliate Jaadhu Holdings holds 9.98 per cent and Google has 7.73 per cent.

Within the issue, Rs 2,500 crore is reserved for RIL shareholders and Rs 500 crore for employees, who will get a 5 per cent discount. Half the net issue has been set aside for qualified institutional buyers, 35 per cent for retail investors, and 15 per cent for non-institutional investors. The anchor book, about 30 per cent of the issue, opens on October 19.

The issue closes on October 23 and the shares are due to list on the BSE and the NSE on October 28. Nineteen book-running lead managers are handling the issue.