Investment bankers are proposing a valuation of up to $170 billion for Jio Platforms Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter, ahead of what could become one of India’s largest initial public offerings. The proposals, which range between $130 billion and $170 billion, would place Jio among the country’s top three companies by market capitalization, surpassing Bharti Airtel Ltd., valued at around $143 billion, while Reliance Industries Ltd., controlled by Mukesh Ambani, remains far ahead at roughly $240 billion, Bloomberg reported.
The long-anticipated Jio IPO could take place in the first half of 2026, Ambani told investors in August. The listing has been years in the making, with Ambani first discussing a potential public offering in 2019, followed by investments exceeding $10 billion from Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc. the following year. If realized, the share sale would mark Reliance’s first public offering of a major business unit since Reliance Petroleum Ltd.’s debut in 2006.
While initial expectations suggested the IPO could raise more than $6 billion, surpassing Hyundai Motor India Ltd.’s $3.3 billion record offering in 2024, new Indian listing rules may reduce the amount. Under revised regulations, companies with post-listing market capitalizations above 5 trillion rupees must offer shares worth at least 150 billion rupees while diluting only 2.5% of equity. At the proposed top-end valuation, that would translate to roughly $4.3 billion. Details of the offering are still being finalized, and a Reliance representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Jio Platforms had about 506 million subscribers as of the end of September, with average revenue per user of 211.4 rupees in the most recent quarter, compared with Bharti Airtel’s 450 million subscribers and 256 rupees per user. The IPO is expected to reshape India’s telecom sector and offer a major test of investor appetite for one of Asia’s largest digital companies, Bloomberg noted.
