Jio’s big-bang listing may give it stock market’s No.2 crown after Reliance Industries

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ETMarkets.com

Jio Platforms could claim India’s No. 2 market-cap spot after listing, overtaking Bharti Airtel as its IPO sets new records and brokerages flag long-term growth opportunities.

That would place the telecom and digital services company ahead of Bharti Airtel, currently India’s second largest listed company with a market value of Rs 12.25 lakh crore. Jio would trail only parent Reliance Industries, which has a market capitalisation of Rs 16.12 lakh crore.

At the upper end of its IPO price band, Jio Platforms is valued at around Rs 10.3 lakh crore. A listing gain of roughly 15% would be enough to push it into the No. 2 spot, while a 22% gain indicated by the grey market would take its valuation to approximately Rs 12.5 lakh crore. Grey market figures are, however, indicative in nature and may not reflect the actual listing price which would be known at 10 am tomorrow.

HDFC Bank, with a market value of Rs 10.6 lakh crore, and ICICI Bank, valued at Rs 9.96 lakh crore, currently rank below Bharti Airtel. Other companies among India’s largest listed firms include TCS, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finance, Larsen & Toubro and Life Insurance Corporation of India.

The potential ranking would mark the strongest debut by a newly listed company in India by market capitalisation.

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IPO breaks multiple records

Jio Platforms’ IPO was the largest in India’s capital markets history, with the issue size at around Rs 30,200 crore. It also generated cumulative demand of more than ₹7 lakh crore across the anchor and public book-building process.

The IPO was fully subscribed within 100 minutes of opening. Its ₹5,500 crore qualified institutional buyer portion was subscribed within the first 10 minutes.

At the close of the third day, the IPO had been subscribed 22.2 times, while the QIB portion was subscribed 70.55 times. Against the 27 crore shares offered, aggregate demand stood at 655.68 crore shares.

The issue attracted almost 1.4 crore applications, including from retail and first-time investors. Jio Platforms IPO received more than 1.38 crore applications, more participants than any other IPO in the world.

The issue also broke new ground globally. Jio Platforms is set to become the fourth company globally, after businesses such as Meta, Alibaba and SpaceX, to achieve an equity valuation of more than $100 billion at the time of its IPO.

At the IPO offer price, Jio Platforms is already valued at around Rs 10.3 lakh crore, or approximately $109 billion. That places it among India’s five most valuable listed companies even before its shares begin trading.

The IPO comprises 27 crore fresh shares, with no offer for sale (OFS) component. Existing investors are not selling shares into the issue. Jio Platforms plans to use Rs 27,500 crore of the proceeds to repay or prepay borrowings, with the balance earmarked for general corporate purposes.

Following the listing, the Reliance Group is set to become India’s largest listed business group by aggregate listed market capitalisation.

Also Read | Didn’t get Jio IPO shares? Experts decode the listing-day playbook for investors

Brokerages see long-term potential

Brokerages have recommended subscribing to the IPO with a medium- to long-term investment horizon. Motilal Oswal has recommended the issue for both listing gains and long-term investment.

“Jio offers a combination of market leadership, healthy earnings growth and future opportunities in broadband, enterprise technology and AI. For long-term investors, the key monitorables will be ARPU growth, tariff hikes and the monetisation of digital services,” Motilal Oswal said.

At Rs 1,119 per share, Jio Platforms is valued at around 33.3 times FY26 earnings, according to brokerage estimates. That is below Bharti Airtel’s reported price-to-earnings multiple of approximately 40.7 times, although Jio has a lower return on capital employed and a lower current average revenue per user than Airtel.

Systematix said Jio’s valuation was around 19% below its valuation for consolidated Reliance Industries and retained a long-term positive outlook.

The brokerage said Jio’s large customer base, proprietary technology, strong cash generation and multiple growth opportunities offered comfort. It also flagged risks related to capital expenditure, competition, regulation and execution.