Reliance’s telecom and digital arm is closing in on dates for what would be India’s biggest-ever share sale, with international roadshows expected to start within weeks.
Jio Platforms is inching closer to fixing a date for what could be India’s largest-ever public issue. People aware of the development told the Economic Times that Reliance Industries’ telecom, digital and technology arm is most likely to launch its share sale toward the end of October, timed around Navratri, which starts on Oct 11 and ends on Dussehra on Oct 20.
Should the window slip, the launch could see some spillover into the first week of November, or the company could instead target Diwali, which falls on Nov 8, with Dhanteras on Nov 6.
Jio is expected to finalise the exact dates within a couple of weeks, after which it would initiate roadshows overseas before holding them at home, a source close to the process said. Emails to the company and its lead bankers had gone unanswered at the time the original report was filed.
Check Live: Reliance Jio IPO
From DRHP To SEBI Nod: How We Got Here
The timeline has been years in the making. At Reliance’s AGM in August 2025, Ambani said preparations had begun for listing Reliance Jio in the first half of 2026.
Jio Platforms filed its DRHP with SEBI on June 19, and SEBI issued its observations, effectively clearing the company to proceed, during the week ended August 28, according to a review of the regulator’s website.
The proposed IPO comprises a fresh issue of up to 27 crore equity shares of ₹10 face value each, with no offer-for-sale component from existing shareholders, about 2.9% of post-issue equity. Every rupee raised goes into the company rather than to promoters or early backers cashing out.
The Valuation Math: What Jio Could Be Worth
Street estimates suggest the issue could raise roughly ₹37,000–37,700 crore, comfortably ahead of Hyundai Motor India’s $3.3-billion IPO in 2024, currently India’s record-holder. Where analysts diverge sharply is on the resulting valuation.
Bankers proposed a valuation as wide as $130 billion to $170 billion in talks reported in November 2025, while Jefferies had separately pegged Jio Platforms’ worth at $180 billion.
ICICI Securities projected a valuation closer to $148 billion by FY27, citing strong free cash flow and deleveraging potential.
The latest street math, however, points to roughly ₹12–13 lakh crore, or about $135–140 billion, a notably tighter range than last year’s estimates, hinting that pricing may settle lower than bankers first floated.
Reuters had reported in January that Reliance was weighing a stake sale of just 2.5% of Jio Platforms, taking advantage of a proposed SEBI change allowing very large companies a smaller minimum public float. The final DRHP structure suggests Reliance landed close to that lower dilution number.
Also Read: Jio’s Rs 37,700 Crore IPO Aims To Dethrone Hyundai As India’s Biggest Ever
Why Reliance Needs The Cash
Unlike IPOs that let early investors exit, Jio Platforms’ fresh-issue-only structure means the entire proceeds are earmarked to repay or prepay borrowings at its material subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm. That fits a broader deleveraging story: net leverage fell from 0.88x to 0.36x between FY24 and FY26, even as revenue and EBITDA grew at a compound annual rate of 15.79% and 17.79%, respectively.
The company still owes roughly ₹1.04 lakh crore to the government for telecom spectrum, underscoring why balance-sheet cleanup matters ahead of listing.
Track how institutions are positioning ahead of this listing season on NiftyTrader’s FII-DII Tracker.
The Investors Already Backing Jio
Jio Platforms isn’t new to outside scrutiny. It raised about ₹1.52 trillion from 13 investors for a combined 32.9% stake in FY21, at a valuation of $65–70 billion.
That roster includes Meta with a 10% stake and Google’s Alphabet with 7.7%, alongside Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, ADIA, TPG, Intel Capital and Qualcomm Ventures.
Reliance itself holds the bulk of the pre-IPO cap table, about 66.43% of equity, equal to nearly 594 crore shares, a base likely to anchor early investor conversations once the price band lands.
Inside The Business: Scale, ARPU And Patents
The listing rests on genuinely large numbers. Reliance Jio Infocomm served 524.4 million subscribers as of March 31, 2026, India’s largest telecom base.
ARPU has climbed to ₹214 in 2026, with customers using an average of 42.3 GB of data a month. On broadband, Jio serves 2.71 crore fixed-line customers and captured 67.56% of all new industry broadband additions in FY26.
The company has also built out its IP base, with 6,817 patent applications filed as of March 31, 2026.
On profitability, Jio Platforms’ most recent quarterly disclosure showed consolidated profit of ₹7,764 crore for Q1 FY27, up 9.2% year-on-year though down 2.2% sequentially.
Markets Have Been Watching Closely
Reliance stock has shown it can swing hard on Jio IPO headlines. When Reuters reported in 2025 that the listing would be delayed beyond that year, RIL shares fell as much as 1.8%, wiping out roughly $6 billion in market value and dragging the broader Nifty into negative territory given the stock’s outsized index weight.
That sensitivity is why a SEBI-cleared timeline now carries far more weight than the speculative dates that circulated through 2025.
The timing also isn’t happening in isolation: NSE’s own long-pending IPO, estimated at around ₹30,000 crore, is separately expected in the same September-to-November window, setting up a rare stretch where two of India’s most-awaited listings could hit the market within weeks of each other, a real test of how much fresh capital investors are willing to deploy heading into the festive season.
Bottom Line
The confirmed facts, for now: DRHP filed on June 19, SEBI clearance in the week to August 28, and an issue size hovering near ₹37,700 crore.
The price band, exact listing date, and the anchor book remain undisclosed. Bankers are expected to lock the calendar within a fortnight; if Navratri timing holds, overseas roadshows could begin as early as next week.
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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Details on price band, listing date and anchor allocation for the Jio Platforms IPO remain unofficial and subject to change. Readers should consult a SEBI-registered financial advisor before making investment decisions. NiftyTrader.in is a SEBI-registered platform.
