Jio Platforms Sets ₹1,065-1,119 IPO Price Band, Valuing Telecom Giant at ₹10.3 Lakh Crore in Pure Fresh Issue

Jio Platforms Ltd. fixed a price band of ₹1,065-1,119 per share for its initial public offering, valuing the digital and telecom arm of Reliance Industries Ltd. at about ₹10.3 lakh crore at the upper end. The issue, opening Oct. 21 and closing Oct. 23, is expected to raise approximately ₹30,213 crore, making it India’s largest share sale.

In a departure from recent mega-IPOs, the offering is structured entirely as a fresh issue of up to 27 crore equity shares with no offer for sale component. All proceeds will be retained by the company rather than distributed to existing promoters or investors. According to company filings cited by The Economic Times, Jio Platforms plans to deploy up to ₹27,500 crore to prepay outstanding debt at its core telecom subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm, with the remainder allocated to general corporate purposes.

“The full proceeds take us to be a net-debt-free company,” said Akash Ambani, managing director of Jio Platforms, at a press conference in Mumbai, as reported by Business Standard.

**Valuation Gap With Bharti Airtel**

At the upper end of the price band, Jio Platforms is valued at 34 times its FY26 earnings per share, compared with Bharti Airtel’s current multiple of about 39 times, according to Business Standard. Isha Ambani, non-executive director of Reliance Industries, said the group’s philosophy is to price attractively so that shareholders can create long-term value alongside Jio’s growth.

“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,” she said at the same press conference, as reported by Business Standard.

**Tariff Strategy and Growth Levers**

Akash Ambani said Jio has the ability to raise mobile tariffs but plans to drive revenue growth primarily by expanding its range of services rather than relying on higher data prices. He noted that telecom spending per user as a share of India’s per-capita income has roughly halved to around 1% since Jio entered the market in 2016, indicating room for the industry to generate more revenue.

Jio charges approximately ₹4.9 per gigabyte of data, compared with an industry average of ₹7.5, according to Livemint. Its customers consume an average of 43.7 GB of data a month. The company carries more than 60% of India’s wireless data traffic.

Chief Executive Pankaj Pawar said tariffs are only one of several levers available for growth, as reported by Livemint.

**Customer Base and Financials**

Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom subsidiary, had 533.3 million customers at the end of June, including 284.9 million 5G users. Average revenue per user stood at ₹215.6 a month.

For FY26, Jio Platforms reported revenue of nearly ₹1.47 trillion, EBITDA of ₹76,255 crore and net profit of ₹30,049 crore, according to Business Standard. The company’s EBITDA grew at a compound annual rate of 17.5% from FY23 to FY26, making it Reliance Industries’ fastest-growing major business, according to NDTV Profit.

**Growth Beyond Mobile**

Jio plans to expand into home broadband, enterprise digital services and international opportunities. Akash Ambani identified home broadband as a major growth area, noting that Jio had 28.6 million fixed broadband customers and accounted for 67.5% of India’s net additions in fixed broadband customers in FY26, as reported by Livemint.

He also said the company expects India’s digital economy to reach $1.4 trillion by FY31 and aims to capture a substantial share of that market, according to Livemint.

**Implications for Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel**

The listing could make the value of Reliance Industries’ stake in Jio Platforms more transparent but may also prompt investors to reassess the holding company discount applied to the parent, according to NDTV Profit. RIL’s stake, valued at about ₹6.7 lakh crore based on the IPO price, could face a typical discount of 25% to 50%, reducing its implied contribution to RIL’s market capitalisation.

NDTV Profit also noted that private equity investors including Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR and TPG collectively own close to 12% of Jio Platforms, valued at around ₹1.2 lakh crore. Any future sale of those stakes could increase share supply and weigh on the stock.

For Bharti Airtel, Jio’s listing provides a clearer valuation benchmark for India’s telecom sector, though the scope for a re-rating may be limited because Jio’s valuation has been brought closer to that of its listed peer, according to NDTV Profit.

**Reservation and Listing Details**

Reliance Industries shareholders will have a dedicated reservation of shares worth up to ₹2,500 crore, and employees will receive a ₹500 crore reservation with a 5% discount, according to Business Standard. The anchor book, about 30% of the issue, opens Oct. 19.

After the IPO, Reliance Industries’ stake in Jio Platforms will fall from 66.43% to around 64.5%. Meta affiliate Jaadhu Holdings holds 9.98% and Google holds 7.73%.

Shares are expected to begin trading on the BSE and NSE on Oct. 28. Nineteen book-running lead managers are handling the issue.