Jio effect! Reliance beats Tata to become India's most valued conglomerate

Prior to Jio Platforms’ listing, the Reliance Group had a combined market cap of around Rs 18 lakh crore. Reliance Industries (RIL) accounted for the biggest share, with a market value of Rs 16 lakh crore, followed by Jio Financial Services at a little over Rs 1 lakh crore.

Jio Platforms made its much-awaited market debut on Wednesday, listing at Rs 1,358, a 21% premium to its IPO price of Rs 1,119. Its market capitalisation at the time of debut stood at more than Rs 12.5 lakh crore. This takes the combined market capitalisation of the Reliance Group’s 13 listed companies to Rs 28 lakh crore.

Also read | LIVE updates from Jio's mega market debut

Which are the other most valuable Indian conglomerates?

The Tata Group, comprising 18 listed companies, including Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Trent and Titan, has a combined market cap of nearly Rs 26 lakh crore, ranking it as the second-biggest conglomerate, followed by the Adani Group and HDFC Group.

Jio Platforms also set a new benchmark as it became India’s second-most valuable company after its parent, RIL. It overtook telecom rival Bharti Airtel, which has now slipped to third place on the list of India’s most valuable companies.

Also read | No. 2 on Day 1: How Jio Platforms broke India’s market cap hierarchy on debut itself

Jio’s much-awaited market debut came after its mega IPO saw strong investor interest during its three days of public bidding, being subscribed 22.19 times its offer size, according to data from the National Stock Exchange. Institutional investors led the demand, with the qualified institutional buyers category subscribed 70.55 times by the close of bidding. The non-institutional investor segment was subscribed 14 times, while the retail individual investor category received bids equivalent to 2.72 times the shares reserved for it.

The Rs 30,213-crore maiden public issue for the telecom giant broke several records, including the title of India’s largest-ever IPO, surpassing Hyundai Motor India’s Rs 27,870-crore offering in 2024.

The issue set records across fundraising, anchor investor demand and applications, while attracting the highest qualified institutional buyer (QIB) subscription among India’s five largest IPOs. It was fully subscribed within 100 minutes of opening and received nearly 1.4 crore applications, according to figures compiled for the issue.

Also read | Why is the market crashing today?