Reliance Industries shares in focus as Jio IPO sets price band for possibly biggest-ever issue. What shareholders must know

ETMarkets.com

Jio's mega IPO brings a fresh investment opportunity for eligible Reliance Industries shareholders.

Jio Platforms said on Wednesday evening that it would issue 27 crore shares through the IPO, which will comprise an entirely fresh issue with no Offer For Sale (OFS) component. The price band has been set at Rs 1,065 to Rs 1,119 per share. At the upper end of the band, the issue is valued at Rs 30,213 crore, surpassing Hyundai Motor India's Rs 27,870 crore IPO in 2024, which was entirely an OFS.

Why are Reliance shares in focus?

Retail investors have been allocated 35% of the issue, while 2.23 crore shares worth Rs 2,500 crore have been reserved for existing Reliance Industries shareholders. October 14 has been set as the cut-off date to determine eligibility for applying under the shareholder category.

Investors who purchased Reliance Industries shares on or before Tuesday, October 13, will qualify as existing shareholders and can apply under the reserved quota. Their maximum application amount will be Rs 2 lakh, the same limit that applies to retail investors. Those who bought Reliance Industries shares on October 14 will not be eligible for the shareholder quota.

The shareholder reservation is a closely watched feature of the offering, as public investors have so far been able to gain exposure to Jio only through Reliance Industries shares. The reserved category will give eligible RIL shareholders a separate route to apply directly for Jio Platforms shares.

JIO IPO valuation

The proposed IPO valuation places Jio Platforms at a premium to the levels at which most of its major private investors entered in 2020. Several financial and sovereign investors invested at an equity valuation of around Rs 4.91 lakh crore, while Google's investment was made at a lower valuation of about Rs 4.36 lakh crore. The IPO valuation is therefore more than double the level at which most outside investors initially invested in the company.

At the upper end of the price band, Jio Platforms is expected to be valued at around Rs 10.3 lakh crore, potentially making it one of India's most valuable listed companies at the time of its market debut. The Rs 30,213 crore offering would also overtake Hyundai Motor India's 2024 IPO, valued at Rs 27,870 crore, as the country's largest public issue.

Jio Platforms houses Reliance’s digital and telecom businesses, including mobile services, broadband, cloud, entertainment, enterprise technology and artificial intelligence-linked platforms. The IPO is being pitched as more than a telecom listing, with the company seeking to position itself as a broader consumer technology and digital infrastructure play.

For Reliance Industries, the IPO will create an independent market value for its biggest growth asset. RIL owns about two-thirds of Jio Platforms, and investors have long viewed a separate Jio listing as a key value-discovery event for the conglomerate.