Jio Platforms IPO Debut: Shares Surge 21% in India's Largest Listing

Jio entered India's crowded telecom market in 2016 with free data and low-cost services, quickly winning customers from established operators including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and state-owned BSNL. It has since become the country's largest telecom operator, with platforms serving more than 540 million customers, Akash Ambani said at Wednesday's listing ceremony.

Reliance Industries owns more than a 66% stake in Jio Platforms, followed by Meta Platforms' affiliate Jaadhu Holdings with nearly 10% and Google International with 7.7%, according to LSEG data. In 2020, when Meta and Google invested, Jio was valued at up to ₹4.91 trillion (about $65 billion at the time). None of the existing investors sold shares in the IPO, which consisted entirely of newly issued shares.

Jio made ₹300.5 billion (about $3.2 billion) in profit on revenue of ₹1.47 trillion (around $15.5 billion) in the fiscal year ended March 2026, with both figures up about 15% from a year earlier. In the June quarter, revenue grew nearly 12% and profit rose 9%. From the IPO proceeds, Jio plans to use up to ₹275 billion (about $2.9 billion) to repay debt at its telecom subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm.

The Jio Platforms listing is a major moment for India's tech and telecom sector, and it signals growing investor appetite for large digital players in emerging markets. For readers in Tunisia, the direct impact is limited: Jio does not operate mobile networks in Tunisia, and there is no announcement about its services launching locally.

The IPO price of ₹1,119 per share was available only to investors participating in the Indian offering. Shares now trade on Indian exchanges at around ₹1,357, according to CNBC. Nomura gave Jio Platforms a buy rating on Wednesday with a target price of ₹1,340, implying an upside of 19.7% to the IPO price, saying the company's capex cycle is largely over and free cash flow should improve sharply.