MUMBAI: Shares of Jio Platforms made a strong debut on the stock exchanges, listing at a premium of over 21% to the issue price. The blockbuster debut made the billionaire Mukesh Ambani-owned company the second most valuable listed company, behind its flagship firm Reliance Industries Ltd.
The stock listed at Rs 1,358 on both the BSE and the NSE, a premium of 21.36% over the issue price of Rs 1,119. At listing, Jio Platforms commanded a market capitalisation of Rs 12.5 lakh crore, overtaking the Rs 12.18 lakh crore m-cap of its biggest rival Bharti Airtel, according to BSE data. Following the listing, Jio shares hit a high of Rs 1,374.50 apiece.
Earlier, Jio’s Rs 30,200 crore IPO was subscribed 22.19 times, attracting bids for 438.26 crore shares against 19.75 crore shares on offer. The grey market trend indicated Jio would deliver a listing gain of more than 20%.
The total demand for Jio’s IPO, including the anchor book, stood at a whopping Rs 7.4 lakh crore. In the public subscription categories, the IPO raised Rs 4.9 lakh crore, surpassing the comparable demand for LG Electronics India’s 2025 IPO. Jio also became the first company in global stock market history to receive more than one crore individual investor applications for its IPO.
The strong response to Jio’s initial share sale came despite muted sentiment in the broader equity market. The issue was fully subscribed in less than 100 minutes of opening on the first day, a rare feat for a large IPO.
Qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) led the demand, with their portion subscribed 70.55 times. Non-institutional investors subscribed 14 times, while the retail portion stood at 2.72 times. Employee and shareholder quotas were subscribed 2.93 times and 7.63 times, respectively.
Motilal Oswal Financial Services initiated coverage with a BUY rating and a target price of Rs 1,350 (implying 21% upside to the IPO price), based on a DCF-backed 11.5x FY29E reported EBITDA.
“We expect RJio to extend its market leadership in wireless (with its revenue market share (RMS) rising ~100bp over FY26-29 to 43.3%) and HBB (accounting for ~73% of incremental industry net adds over FY26-29). Scaling up its digital platforms (including cloud, enterprise communications, IoT, and managed services, along with international tie-ups for its 5G/UBR technology) will offer the next leg of growth beyond the connectivity business,” the domestic brokerage said.
It added, “At the IPO price/CMP, JPL trades at par with our estimated valuation of Bharti’s India business (excluding Indus and BHL’s minority interests). We believe JPL could trade at a premium to Bharti’s India business over the near term, driven by its market leadership, greater influence over industry tariffs, and low liquidity (free float of less than 3%).”
