Jio Platforms gets Sebi nod for ₹35,000 crore IPO, India’s biggest potential listing

India's markets regulator has approved the initial public offering (IPO) of Jio Platforms Ltd, clearing the way for what could become the country’s largest stock listing.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) issued its observation letter on the company’s draft prospectus on Friday.

"Jio Platforms Limited (JPL), subsidiary of the company, has… received the observation letter on the draft red herring prospectus filed for its proposed initial public offer from the Securities and Exchange Board of India," Reliance Industries Ltd informed the stock exchanges later in the day.

“The company can now formally begin marketing the offer, with management directly getting involved,” a person aware of the developments told Mint. “Initial conversations have indicated strong demand from global investors, including sovereign and pension funds.”

Jio Platforms plans to list on the stock exchanges within the next couple of months, the person added.

A spokesperson for the company did not immediately respond to Mint's queries.

Big-ticket listing

Jio Platforms, the digital services arm of Reliance Industries Ltd, plans to raise ₹35,000 crore (around $4 billion) through the IPO, structured entirely as a fresh issue of shares. At the targeted fundraise, the offering would surpass India’s previous IPO records, including those set by Hyundai Motor India Ltd and Life Insurance Corp. of India (LIC), as well as the proposed ₹30,000 crore IPO of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley and Citi Research have valued Jio Platforms at around $133 billion, implying a multiple of about 13 times its estimated enterprise value to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) for fiscal year 2027 (FY27).

The company plans to issue 270 million equity shares with a face value of ₹10 each. There will be no offer-for-sale component, meaning the entire gross proceeds from the IPO will accrue directly to Jio Platforms.

Reliance Industries currently holds a 66.43% stake in Jio Platforms. Meta Platforms Inc. owns 9.98% through its affiliate Jaadhu Holdings LLC, while Google International LLC holds 7.73%.

KKR & Co. and Vista Equity Partners Management LLC each own 2.31% through affiliate funds. Silver Lake holds 1.88%, Mubadala Investment Co. 1.85%, General Atlantic 1.34% and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority 1.16%.

Jio Platforms plans to use up to ₹27,500 crore of the IPO proceeds to prepay certain borrowings of its material subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL). The remaining proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

Jio Platforms, led by Akash Ambani, filed its draft red herring prospectus on 19 June. Kotak Mahindra Capital Co., Morgan Stanley India Co., BofA Securities India Ltd, Axis Capital Ltd, BNP Paribas, Citigroup Global Markets India Pvt. Ltd and Goldman Sachs (India) Securities are among the book-running lead managers to the offer.

The company reported a 9.2% rise in its net profit to ₹7,764 crore for the quarter ended June (Q1FY27), from ₹7,110 crore a year earlier, while revenue from operations rose 11.8% to ₹39,173 crore from ₹35,032 crore.

The growth was driven by continued gains in subscriber market share, higher average revenue per user (Arpu) and increased sales of digital services. Profit, however, declined 2.15% sequentially, as finance costs and depreciation expenses rose with 5G network assets becoming operational.