The week in charts: Jio’s mega debut, deferred UPI charges, IDBI bank stake sale
From Jio Platforms preparing for what could be India’s largest IPO to the deferment of charges on select UPI transactions, the week saw key developments across markets and banking. The rupee gained against the dollar after a series of Reserve Bank of India measures, while the Union cabinet cleared the sale of a majority stake in IDBI Bank to Fairfax Financial Holdings, marking the biggest privatization since Air India in 2022. Meanwhile, Australia strengthened its lead in the ongoing World Test Championship cycle— here is this week’s news in numbers.
Jio’s debut
The much-awaited initial public offering (IPO) of Jio Platforms, Mukesh Ambani’s telecom business, will open on 21 October. At the upper end of its price band, the issue is set to raise ₹30,200 crore, making it India’s largest IPO, surpassing Hyundai Motor India’s October 2024 offering.
Launched in 2016, Jio has grown into a major player in India’s telecom sector, and the listing marks another milestone for Ambani’s business. The shares will be listed on 28 October. At the upper end of its IPO price band, Jio Platforms’ market capitalization would make it India’s fourth-most-valuable listed company, after Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and HDFC Bank, based on market values as of Wednesday.
Festive pause
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has postponed the planned charge on select person-to-merchant (P2M) UPI transactions, citing the festive season.
UPI (unified payments interface) transactions have been free since the platform was launched in 2016. In September, the government announced a charge of 0.4% on P2M transactions above ₹2,000, capped at ₹300. The charge, which was earlier scheduled to take effect on 15 October, will now be implemented “immediately post Diwali”, according to NPCI.
UPI transactions typically see their highest sequential growth in October, coinciding with the festive season, with March recording the next-highest growth.
Prime sale
Nearly four years after the government first announced plans to sell IDBI Bank, the Union cabinet on Wednesday cleared the sale of a 60.7% stake in the lender to Canada-based Fairfax Financial Holdings for ₹52,877 crore. The stake is currently held by the government and the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).
The deal will be the latest foreign investment in India’s financial sector, following Emirates NBD’s investment in RBL Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.’s investment in Yes Bank and MUFG’s investment in Shriram Finance. It will also be the government’s biggest privatisation since the sale of Air India to the Tata Group in 2022. Since then, the government has struggled to complete outright sales. Small stake sales, alongside the proposed IDBI Bank divestment, are putting 2026-27 on course to be the strongest year for disinvestment since 2017-18.
Numbers talk
23%: The average forecast by five brokerages for growth in Nifty 50 companies’ net profit in the September quarter, compared with 11% growth in the June quarter.
36.7 million sq ft: Net absorption of office space across eight major Indian cities in January-September, down 20% from a year earlier, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
₹3,191 crore: Net profit reported by SaaS company Zoho in 2024-25. This week, co-founder Sridhar Vembu said the company would not give salary hikes this year amid disruption from artificial intelligence (AI).
12%: Share of Indian consumers who reported being scammed in the previous 12 months, according to GSMA’s India Consumer Scam Report 2026. Among scam victims, 86% took their cases to an organisation.
$276 million: Amount Elon Musk has spent on Republican midterm election efforts since July, making him the largest known donor in the 2026 US election cycle.
Rupee support
The rupee gained about 1.8% against the US dollar this week, following a series of foreign exchange measures announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last week. It closed at ₹95.03 to the dollar on 14 October.
The measures were aimed at easing immediate dollar demand and curbing positions in currency derivatives. Between 7 September and 8 October, the rupee had depreciated 2.5%. Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi this week, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the RBI would seek to curb volatility in the rupee, which was under pressure from external factors, but would not attempt to fix its value.
Test of champions
The World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 cycle is underway, with Australia leading the standings after a recent 214-run win over South Africa in the first Test of their three-match series. Australia has won nine of its 11 Tests in the current cycle and lost two, earning about 82% of the points available. South Africa is third with 60%, while India is fifth with 51.5%. The top two teams at the end of the cycle will meet in the final at The Oval in England in June 2027. South Africa’s remaining fixtures include home series against Bangladesh and England and a tour of Sri Lanka. India will tour New Zealand and host Australia, leaving it needing a strong run of wins and favourable results elsewhere to reach the final.