Jio Platforms’ initial public offering (IPO) was oversubscribed in the qualified institutional buyers (QIB) category within two hours of opening on Wednesday, signalling strong demand from institutional investors.
However, the issue remained undersubscribed in the non-institutional investors (NII) and retail investor categories. As of 12:50 pm, data from the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) showed that the QIB portion was subscribed 4.86 times, while the NII and retail portions were subscribed 0.61 times and 0.46 times, respectively.
The IPO opened on October 21 and will close on October 23. Jio Platforms aims to raise Rs 30,213 crore through the issue, which is priced in the range of Rs 1,065–1,119 per share.
This is one of the largest public issues in India exceeding that of Hyundai Motor India’s Rs 27,870 crore issue in 2024.
Jio Platforms is valued at around $108 billion at the upper band of the IPO price.
The issue is a fresh offering of up to 27 crore shares, and no offer-for-sale component implies that existing shareholders are not selling.
On Monday, the company allotted shares worth about Rs 8,110 crore to 212 anchor investors at Rs 1,119 apiece. Bids for the anchor allocation exceeded Rs 2.5 lakh crore, more than 30 times the amount available.
Jio Platforms is betting that its technology, artificial intelligence and cloud ambitions will drive growth beyond telecom, Managing Director Akash Ambani said on Tuesday, pitching the Reliance Industries unit as a technology company ahead of what is set to be India's biggest-ever initial public offering.
"There is no either-or at Jio: the network is our technology," Ambani said in an interview with PTI, highlighting the company's in-house 5G core, cloud-native radio access network and software platform serving 533.3 million customers.
“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 IPO comes as investors assess whether the country's largest telecom operator can convert its vast customer base into higher-margin revenue from digital services, enterprise technology and AI, as subscriber growth alone becomes a less powerful driver of expansion.
(With inputs from PTI)