Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio draws record $77 billion in IPO bids

Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms Ltd. drew bids worth more than $77 billion for its $3.2 billion initial public offering, making it the most subscribed share sale in India's history ahead of its stock market debut on Wednesday.

The public portion of the offering was subscribed 22.19 times when bidding closed on Friday, and the company received about 13.9 million applications, the most for any Indian IPO. The previous record for demand was set in 2008 by Reliance Power, part of the group controlled by Ambani's younger brother Anil. Jio was fully covered within about 100 minutes of opening on Oct. 21.

Institutional investors drove the demand. The portion set aside for qualified institutions was covered 70.55 times, up from 36.5 times a day earlier. Wealthy individuals subscribed 14 times their allocation, existing Reliance shareholders 7.6 times, employees 2.93 times and retail investors 2.72 times. Retail bids came to more than 258.67 billion rupees ($2.7 billion).

The public book alone drew bids worth more than 4.9 trillion rupees, or about $51.5 billion if bids were placed at the top of the price range. Anchor investors, including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, BlackRock and Fidelity, had already bid $25.6 billion for $854 million of stock set aside for them before the offering opened.

"Jio Platforms IPO demand was much better than anticipated, especially the institutional subscription," said market analyst Ambareesh Baliga, who expects the shares to open about 10% above the offer price. He also cautioned that "a heavily oversubscribed IPO can generate excitement; it cannot guarantee a strong debut."

India's biggest listing

Jio is selling up to 270 million new shares at 1,065 rupees to 1,119 rupees each, raising as much as 302.13 billion rupees ($3.2 billion). That makes it India's largest IPO, ahead of Hyundai Motor India's 278 billion-rupee offering in 2024. At the top of the range, Jio would be valued at about 10.3 trillion rupees ($108.3 billion), placing it among India's four largest listed companies. Shares will be allotted on Monday and begin trading on the BSE and the National Stock Exchange on Oct. 28.

Reliance is not selling any of its own shares. Most of the money, about 275 billion rupees ($2.9 billion), will go toward paying down debt at Reliance Jio Infocomm, the group's mobile carrier. Reliance owned 66.4% of Jio Platforms before the offering, while Meta Platforms held about 10% and Alphabet's Google about 8%. The two U.S. technology companies invested a combined $10.2 billion in 2020, when Jio was valued at 4.9 trillion rupees.

A test for Reliance shares

The demand for Jio has yet to lift its parent. Reliance Industries shares rose 0.46% to 1,190 rupees ($12.54) on Friday but fell 1.75% over the week. The stock is about 26% below its 52-week high of 1,611.20 rupees, set in January, and only slightly above the 52-week low of 1,152.30 rupees it hit on Oct. 13.

Ambani, 69, chairs Reliance, one of India's most valuable companies, which spans oil refining, retail, telecommunications and media. His family controls about half of the conglomerate. Jio is run by his eldest son, Akash Ambani, who is the company's managing director, and the offering is the first IPO from the Mukesh Ambani group in about two decades.

Jio is India's largest mobile carrier, with more than 533 million subscribers as of June. Revenue rose 14.6% to 1.5 trillion rupees ($15.8 billion) in the year to March 31, 2026, and net profit rose 15% to 300 billion rupees ($3.2 billion). The company plans to invest $110 billion over the next seven years in data centers and artificial intelligence.

Billionaires.Africa reported on Oct. 21 that the offering was fully subscribed within two hours of opening.