Jio Platforms anchor book draws demand of over Rs 2.5 lakh crore

Jio Platforms’ anchor book drew institutional demand of around Rs 2.5 lakh crore on Monday, making it the first Indian IPO to attract bids exceeding this mark, according to people familiar with the development. The company’s Rs 8,110-crore anchor book received demand of more than 30 times the amount on offer.

The anchor book saw participation from global asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, foreign institutional investors, domestic mutual funds, insurers and pension funds, reflecting interest across investor categories ahead of the issue opening for subscription on October 21.

Among the global asset managers participating were BlackRock, Capital Group, Fidelity, T Rowe Price, Schroders, JPMorgan Asset Management, Franklin Templeton, Invesco and Janus Henderson. Sovereign wealth funds and state-backed investors included Singapore’s GIC, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Qatar Investment Authority and Norges Bank Investment Management.

Domestic participation included all of India’s top 10 mutual funds, including SBI Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, HDFC Mutual Fund, Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, Nippon India Mutual Fund and Kotak Mutual Fund. Insurers and pension funds such as Life Insurance Corporation of India, HDFC Life, SBI Life, SBI Pension and HDFC Pension were also among the participants.

Foreign long-only funds, sovereign wealth funds and pension funds accounted for a significant share of demand, according to the people cited above.

Jio Platforms, the digital services holding company of Reliance Industries, filed its red herring prospectus on October 14 after submitting its draft prospectus in June. RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani had announced plans to take JPL public at the 2025 annual general meeting.

The IPO will open on October 21 and close on October 23. The company is offering up to 270 million equity shares with a face value of Rs 10 each. The issue also includes reservations of up to Rs 500 crore for eligible employees and Rs 2,500 crore for eligible Reliance Industries shareholders.

Jio Platforms houses Reliance’s telecom and digital businesses, including Reliance Jio Infocomm, which has more than 500 million subscribers, and accounts for nearly 90% of JPL’s revenue.

The company has also been expanding its focus on artificial intelligence, cloud services and enterprise technology, while exploring international opportunities for its telecom technology stack.