Jio Platforms Gets Markets Regulator's Approval For $3.8-Billion IPO

Jio Platforms Ltd, the digital services arm of billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd, has received approval from markets regulator Sebi to proceed with an initial public offering that could raise about $3.8 billion.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) issued its final observations on August 28, according to an update on the regulator's website.

Jio Platforms had filed its draft IPO papers in June.

"Jio Platforms Limited (JPL), subsidiary of the company, has today, i.e., August 28, 2026, received the observation letter on the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) filed for its proposed Initial Public Offer from the Securities and Exchange Board of India," Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) said in a regulatory filing.

The company plans to issue up to 27 crore fresh equity shares, equivalent to about 2.9 per cent of its post-issue equity base, according to its draft prospectus. The offering could value Jio Platforms at about  $137 billion, people familiar with the matter said.

At the estimated issue size of about Rs 37,700 crore ($3.8 billion), the offering would surpass Hyundai Motor India's USD 3.3 billion-equivalent listing in 2024 and become the largest IPO in India. A proposed IPO by the National Stock Exchange, estimated at about Rs 30,000 crore, would also be smaller.

The proceeds will be used primarily to repay or prepay, in whole or in part, about Rs 27,500 crore of outstanding borrowings of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, Jio Platforms' material subsidiary, according to the draft prospectus. The remainder is earmarked for general corporate purposes.

The public offering comes as India's primary market has remained active, with strong participation from retail investors and domestic institutions. More than two dozen IPOs have been announced or launched since July 1, nearly matching the 28 recorded in the first half of 2026.

Jio Platforms houses Reliance's digital businesses, including its telecommunications operations.

Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom arm of JPL, dominates the Indian telecom market with a 32.89 per cent market share in fixed-line connections, serving 157.9 million customers, and a 39.29 per cent share in mobile connections, with 506 million customers.

The company had more than 53.5 crore subscribers as of July-end, making it the world's second-largest single-country mobile operator by subscriber count after China Mobile.

JPL has the largest 5G Standalone network outside China, with 26.85 crore 5G customers as of June 2026.

Jio leads the Fixed Wireless Access segment globally with about 1.5 crore subscribers, roughly 1.5 times the second-largest player, US-based T-Mobile.

Jio claims that its 5G network's carrying capacity is close to 60 per cent of India's wireless data traffic, one of the largest in the world.

Leveraging its network and data traffic capacity, Jio has expanded business into other areas, including cloud, artificial intelligence and enterprise network services.

Jio Platforms posted a 15 per cent rise in profit after tax to Rs 30,053 crore and a 14.5 per cent increase in the annual revenue to Rs 1,46,885 crore during FY26.

Reliance Industries has also taken shareholders' approval for internal transactions of over Rs 16.64 lakh crore spread over the next five fiscal years involving digital services subsidiaries Jio Platforms and Reliance Jio Infocomm.

The biggest pie of over Rs 13 lakh crore in the overall transaction will go to Reliance Jio from Reliance Retail in lieu of telecom services sold through its retail network.

Jio Platforms has previously attracted major global technology and financial investors.

In 2020, Meta invested Rs 43,574 crore for a 9.99 per cent stake, while Google invested Rs 33,737 crore for a 7.73 per cent holding.

Other investors, including Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, TPG, L Catterton, the Public Investment Fund, Intel Capital and Qualcomm Ventures collectively invested about Rs 74,745 crore for roughly a 15.2 per cent stake.

Reliance Industries owns about 66.4 per cent of Jio Platforms, and Meta and Google together hold about 17.7 per cent, according to the draft prospectus.

The IPO would be the first public offering from the Reliance group since 2008 and the first IPO of a consumer-focused business within the conglomerate.

While Jio Platforms is chaired by Ambani, his eldest son Akash is its managing director. Akash is also the chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, the telecom part of the company.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)