Rs 30,213 crore, 100 minutes, Rs 2.5 lakh crore: How Jio IPO broke 3 records even before listing

Jio Platforms’ Rs 30,213 crore IPO sets a record as India’s largest-ever issue, fully subscribing within 100 minutes of opening.

The ₹30,213 crore offering was fully subscribed within 100 minutes of opening on Wednesday, making it the fastest-ever subscribed IPO, according to data on the BSE website. The issue will remain open until October 23.

The first record is the size of the offering. Jio’s IPO is set to surpass Hyundai Motor India’s ₹27,870 crore issue in 2024, making it India’s largest-ever IPO by value. At the upper end of the ₹1,065-₹1,119 price band, Jio Platforms is valued at about ₹10.3 lakh crore.

The issue comprises 27 crore shares and is entirely a fresh offering. There is no offer-for-sale component, meaning existing investors are not selling shares into the IPO. The company plans to use ₹27,500 crore of the proceeds to repay or prepay borrowings, with the balance earmarked for general corporate purposes.

The second record came from the speed of subscription. The portion reserved for qualified institutional buyers was fully subscribed within the first 10 minutes and reached almost two times subscription in less than 30 minutes.

The QIB portion eventually reached 2.86 times subscription, while the overall issue stood at 0.83 times before the full book was completed within 100 minutes of opening.

The third record was set even before the public issue opened. Jio Platforms’ ₹8,110 crore anchor book attracted bids worth about ₹2.5 lakh crore, more than 30 times the shares available. That makes it the highest-ever anchor demand for an Indian IPO.

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The anchor allocation was made to 212 investor accounts and schemes at ₹1,119 per share, the top end of the price band. The investor pool included global asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, domestic mutual funds, insurers and pension funds.

Among the investors were LIC, BlackRock, Fidelity, Singapore’s GIC, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, BNP Paribas, Allianz, JPMorgan and several Indian mutual fund houses.

Domestic mutual funds accounted for a significant part of the anchor allocation. Ninety-five mutual fund schemes received 2.49 crore shares valued at about ₹2,785 crore, representing 34.34% of the anchor book. Another 22 insurance companies and pension fund accounts received shares worth about ₹1,090 crore.

LIC was among the biggest individual anchor allottees, receiving 44.68 lakh shares worth nearly ₹500 crore, or 6.17% of the anchor portion.

The scale of demand has set a high bar for the remainder of the issue and made Jio Platforms one of the most closely watched market events in India this year. The IPO is also Reliance Industries’ first public offering in nearly two decades.

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The strong response reflects investor interest in Reliance’s digital businesses, but the market is also assessing whether Jio can convert its large customer base into higher-margin revenue from digital services, enterprise technology and artificial intelligence as subscriber growth becomes a less powerful driver of expansion.

Jio Platforms Managing Director Akash Ambani has pitched the company as a technology business whose opportunity extends beyond telecom. “Connectivity was the first product we built on that platform. Digital services, AI and cloud are what we are layering on top of it now,” he said.

The issue is entirely primary, with existing investors including Meta, Google, the Public Investment Fund, KKR, Vista Equity Partners and Silver Lake not cashing out through the offering.