NEW DELHI: Jio Platforms’ much-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) has marked a major milestone for India’s capital markets, with the digital and telecommunications arm of Reliance Industries making a strong debut on the stock exchanges on October 28. The company’s shares listed at a premium of more than 21% over the issue price, following a record-breaking public offering that attracted unprecedented investor interest.

The IPO was priced at Rs. 1,119 per share, the upper end of its price band of Rs. 1,065–Rs. 1,119. Jio Platforms raised approximately Rs. 30,213 crore through a fresh issue of shares, making it India’s largest IPO by funds raised, surpassing Hyundai Motor India’s Rs. 27,870-crore offering in 2024. The issue did not include an offer for sale by existing shareholders, meaning the proceeds will go to the company rather than directly to its investors.

Investor demand was exceptionally strong. According to Reuters, the IPO attracted bids worth more than $77 billion and was subscribed over 22 times the shares on offer. The institutional investor category recorded subscription of nearly 71 times its allotted portion, while the non-institutional category was subscribed around 14 times. The offering also received more than 13.8 million applications, setting a record for an Indian IPO, according to Reuters’ reporting.

At its debut on the National Stock Exchange, Jio Platforms opened at Rs. 1,358, up 21.3% from the issue price. The shares subsequently rose to close at Rs. 1,419, giving the company a market capitalisation of approximately Rs. 13.1 lakh crore. Its market value at the close was higher than that of its telecom rival Bharti Airtel, according to The Indian Express.

Founded in 2016, Jio transformed India’s telecommunications market by introducing low-cost data and voice services, accelerating the adoption of mobile internet across the country. Its flagship telecom business, Reliance Jio Infocomm, now serves more than 500 million subscribers and accounts for approximately 60% of India’s data traffic, Reuters reported. The company has expanded beyond mobile connectivity into 5G, fixed broadband, cloud computing, enterprise networking, digital applications and artificial intelligence.

For the financial year ended March 2026, Jio Platforms reported revenue from operations of Rs. 1.47 lakh crore, an increase of 14.6% year-on-year, while net profit rose 15.1% to Rs. 30,049 crore. Its telecom business accounted for around 90% of both revenue and profit, underlining the importance of connectivity services to its overall financial performance.

The company has attracted significant international investment, including from Meta Platforms, Google, KKR, Silver Lake and General Atlantic. Meta holds approximately 9.9% of Jio Platforms, while Google owns around 7.7%. These investments have supported Reliance Industries’ ambition to develop Jio into a broader technology and digital services platform rather than a business focused solely on telecommunications.

Speaking at the listing ceremony, Jio Platforms managing director Akash Ambani said the company’s next phase of growth would focus on making technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, connected devices and space-based connectivity more accessible to Indians. He described the IPO as the beginning of the company’s next stage of development.

The listing is also a significant milestone for Reliance Industries, marking its first new public listing in two decades. However, sustaining investor confidence will depend on Jio’s ability to grow earnings, improve revenue per user and generate returns from newer businesses, particularly AI and cloud services. Analysts have also highlighted competition, the need for further monetisation of its subscriber base and the sustainability of growth beyond traditional telecom services as important factors for investors to watch.