By Hamza Faisal
India's biggest-ever public issue opens for subscription today, as Jio Platforms' Rs 30,213-crore initial public offering starts bidding on October 21. The issue closes on October 23, with listing scheduled on the BSE and NSE on October 28.
The Reliance Industries telecom and digital arm has fixed its price band at Rs 1,065–1,119 per share. The offering comprises 27 crore fresh equity shares — no offer-for-sale component — and at the upper end of the band values Jio Platforms at approximately Rs 10.3 lakh crore. With a lot size of 12 shares, retail investors will need at least Rs 13,428 to apply at the top of the band.
The company plans to use about Rs 27,500 crore of the net proceeds to repay or prepay borrowings at its material subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm, while the balance will be used for general corporate purposes. Apart from a Rs 2,500 crore shareholder reservation, the issue earmarks Rs 500 crore for eligible employees, who get a discount of Rs 54 per share.
Grey market points to ~22% listing pop
Ahead of the opening, the IPO is commanding a strong grey market premium. GMP stood at around Rs 243–245 per share on October 20, indicating an unofficial premium of roughly 22 per cent over the upper issue price of Rs 1,119. At that premium, the implied listing price works out to approximately Rs 1,362–1,364 per share — a gain of about Rs 3,024 on a 12-share lot.
Market watchers caution that the grey market is an informal sentiment indicator, prices can change quickly, and a GMP premium does not guarantee the actual listing price or listing gains.
Record-shattering anchor demand
Big institutions have already placed their bets. On October 19, Jio Platforms raised Rs 8,109.85 crore from 212 anchor investors — and the anchor book was swamped by bids worth approximately Rs 2.5 lakh crore, more than 30 times the Rs 8,110 crore on offer. It is one of the most oversubscribed anchor rounds the Indian market has seen.
Global investment firms including BlackRock, Capital Group, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, Schroders, JPMorgan Asset Management and Franklin Templeton took anchor stakes, alongside sovereign and public institutions such as the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Domestic mutual funds cornered 34.34 per cent of the anchor book across 95 schemes, while LIC alone took a Rs 499.98 crore slice — the biggest single anchor allocation.
Why the Street is excited
Brokerages believe Jio's future growth will increasingly depend on improving average revenue per user (ARPU), encouraging premium-plan adoption, and expanding its digital-services portfolio. Jio has reshaped India's telecom landscape through disruptive pricing since its 2016 launch; analysts now see potential in tariff increases, organic ARPU expansion and additional revenue from digital services to support earnings growth.
Cash generation has improved alongside operating performance. Cash flow from operations reached approximately Rs 77,556 crore in FY26, while capital expenditure intensity declined from 48.8 per cent of revenue in FY24 to 23.3 per cent in FY26 — giving the company greater flexibility to invest in emerging technologies, expand digital services and strengthen its financial position. Jio Platforms operates across mobile and fixed broadband connectivity, digital applications, enterprise services, cloud and artificial intelligence, and its subsidiary Reliance Jio Infocomm served 533.3 million customers as of June 30, 2026.
Allotment is expected to be finalised on October 26. If the grey market's read holds, Jio's debut on October 28 could be one of the most watched listings in Indian market history.
