Jio Platforms' record debut topples Tata Group and resets India's market-cap ladder

Jio Platforms' listing did more than deliver India's biggest-ever IPO pop. In a single session it redrew the country's corporate valuation rankings.

The telecom and digital arm of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries listed at ₹1,358 on the BSE and NSE on Wednesday, a 21.4% premium to its ₹1,119 issue price, and closed at ₹1,417.35 — up 26.7% on the day, according to Business Standard. That valued the company at ₹13.05 lakh crore, or roughly $137 billion.

The move made Jio India's second-most valuable listed company, behind only parent Reliance Industries, and pushed it past rival Bharti Airtel, whose shares fell 1.55% to ₹1,948.10, valuing the operator at ₹12.16 trillion. Reliance Industries' own market capitalisation stood at ₹15.67 trillion, leaving Jio at about 83% of its parent's value.

At group level, the debut lifted the Ambani conglomerate above Tata Group. Reliance's listed companies were worth about ₹30.25 trillion at Wednesday's close against ₹25.40 trillion for Tata, Business Standard reported, citing Bloomberg data. Tata had held the top spot for most of the past decade.

Second session extends the run

The gains continued Thursday. Jio shares rose as much as 5.12% to an intraday high of ₹1,490 on the BSE, up 9.72% from the listing price and 33.15% over the IPO price, NDTV Profit reported. At 10:38 am the stock traded 3.9% higher at ₹1,472.60, with market capitalisation at ₹13,52,208 crore. The Sensex was up 0.71% at 73,764 at the time.

The rally carried the stock past all three initial brokerage targets: Nomura at ₹1,340, Motilal Oswal at ₹1,350 and Elara Capital at ₹1,367 — each initiated with a 'Buy' rating. The listing-day intraday high of ₹1,375 had already cleared them.

A record issue in a flat market

The ₹30,213-crore offering was the largest in India's corporate history, surpassing Hyundai Motor India's ₹27,859 crore IPO in 2024. It was fully subscribed in roughly 95 minutes, drew 22.19 times the shares on offer and attracted more than 1.38 crore applications — the first Indian IPO to cross the one-crore mark, beating Waaree Energies' 97.33 lakh, according to News18. Qualified institutional buyers bid 70.55 times their portion, non-institutional investors 14 times and retail 2.72 times, the Economic Times reported. The ₹8,110-crore anchor book drew institutional bids worth more than ₹2.5 lakh crore.

"Today, our homegrown platforms serve more than 540 million customers," Managing Director Akash Ambani said at the listing ceremony, according to News18. "The response surpassed our imagination, breaking records in every investor category. We were fully subscribed for India's largest IPO within 95 minutes, the fastest ever."

The pop broke a decade-long pattern. Business Standard's Datanomics column noted that successive record-sized Indian IPOs had listed at a discount, a trend amplified by One 97 Communications' 2021 issue. Jio's 21% listing gain reversed it. The Economic Times called it the second-best opening-day pop in percentage terms among IPOs above ₹10,000 crore.

Allotment paid off for small investors. A retail holder with the minimum 12-share lot gained ₹3,600 over the issue price at the close on an investment of ₹13,430, while those allotted 23 shares under the shareholder category made about ₹6,900, the Economic Times reported. Institutional and other large investors collectively hold nearly 30.9% of Jio Platforms, including Meta Platforms affiliate Jaadhu Holdings at 9.98% and Google International at 7.73%.

The contrast with the broader market was stark. Both the Sensex and Nifty ended marginally lower on Wednesday, and Reliance Industries itself fell 3.19% to ₹1,158, within 1% of its 52-week low. Reliance stock is down 25.4% this year while the Nifty 50 has fallen nearly 13.3%, Business Standard reported.

"Sometimes a big listing can alter the mood of the investing nation, and we all hope Jio does that to the Indian market," Shankar Sharma, founder of GQuant Investech, told Business Standard.

The next test: tariffs and cash

Brokerages argue the next leg depends on converting Jio's subscriber base into higher revenue per user. Nomura expects an industry-wide tariff hike of about 15% in November-December 2026; Motilal Oswal now builds in a similar increase from March 2027, having earlier expected December 2026; and Ambit Capital expects 15% in December 2026 followed by biennial increases of about 12% over the next decade.

Nomura projects Jio EBITDA growth of about 13.5% a year over FY26-FY29, while Motilal Oswal sees 14% revenue growth, 15% EBITDA growth and 20% profit growth over the same period. Nomura estimates India's mobile market could expand from ₹2.9 trillion in FY26 to ₹5.2 trillion in FY31. Home broadband is a second lever: Nomura puts Jio at 28.6 million fixed broadband subscribers in June 2026 against Airtel's 14.7 million, with Indian penetration at about 21% versus a global average above 70%. Jio and Bharti Airtel together control 78% of the Indian market, according to arkansasonline.com.

Falling capital intensity should help. Nomura said capex fell to about 23% of revenue in FY26 from roughly 35% in FY25 and expects Jio to be net debt-free by FY29; Motilal Oswal estimates cumulative free cash flow of ₹1.46 trillion over FY26-FY29.

Jio will use part of the proceeds to prepay up to ₹27,500 crore of borrowings at Reliance Jio Infocomm, its operating subsidiary, with the rest earmarked for general corporate purposes.

Succession on stage

The listing also put the family's succession on public display. Akash Ambani took charge of Jio Platforms in April, and all three siblings — Akash, Isha and Anant — spoke at the ceremony while Mukesh Ambani, 69, watched from the stage.

"What Reliance has done for shareholders for nearly 50 years, Jio will continue to do so for the next fifty," Akash Ambani said, per Business Standard.

Index inclusion will take time. Business Standard reported that Jio must wait several months before it can enter benchmarks such as the Nifty 50, because exchanges must first introduce derivatives on the stock.