In its latest quarter, the telecom arm of Jio reported admirable performance, with continued subscriber additions, modest ARPU improvement, and record-high EBITDA margins
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SAHIBA CHAWDHARY
Reliance Industries’ digital arm Jio Platforms on Friday received the market regulator SEBI’s nod to float India’s largest-ever initial public offer of about ₹37,700 crore.
The company received the observation letter on the Draft Red Herring Prospectus filed for its proposed IPO from SEBI, clearing the path for Jio to move ahead with its listing ambitions. The company reported a consolidated net profit of ₹30,064 crore and revenue of ₹1.49 lakh crore in FY26.
No OFS
As per the company’s DRHP, Jio’s offering comprises a fresh issue of 27 crore equity shares with a face value of ₹10 each and has no offer-for-sale component, indicating existing investors’ inclination not to exit from the company during listing. The company’s existing investors include companies like Google, Meta and Silver Lake.
While net proceeds from the IPO will be largely used for repayment of outstanding debts, analysts remain bullish on the IPO’s ability to attract investor interest.
“Jio has strong cash flows, and coming back with a listing allows them a more focused approach going ahead. They might clear debt, but as the opportunity arises, they have levers and leverage to raise equity and debt if needed,” said Kranthi Bathini, Director of Equity Strategy at WealthMills Securities.
Brokerages estimate a capital raise between ₹33,000 crore and ₹38,000 crore as against the borrowings of ₹27,500 crore, leaving the company with only ₹5,500-10,500 crore for other corporate needs. The debt repayment will also drastically bring down interest cost by ₹2,000-2,500 crore, as per Deven Choksey of DRChoksey Finserv.
Market impact
Regarding market impact, Choksey said, “Assuming a listing market cap of ₹13-14 lakh crore, Jio will rank among the first 5 listed companies in the country and attract a lot of investors. Listing also brings the company’s growth program to a much bigger scale. Growing at 20 per cent, Jio’s market cap may reach ₹20 lakh crore in 2-3 years. This is at par with Reliance Industries’ current market cap.”
At the same time, Shriram Subramanian, Founder of proxy advisory firm InGovern, pointed out that Jio’s listing, by itself, will not lead to a holding-company discount for RIL. The parent company, though traditionally dependent on petrochemical and oil and gas businesses, now holds a more diversified business mix, with retail and telecom making significant contributions to revenue and profit.
Jio’s IPO may also bring favourable tides to the data centre segment of India, wherein a few other players like Sify and ESDS Software Solutions have tried for IPOs, said Yugal Joshi, Partner at Everest Group.
In its latest quarter, the telecom arm of Jio reported admirable performance, with continued subscriber additions, modest ARPU improvement, and record-high EBITDA margins. EBITDA grew by 15 per cent to ₹20,865 crore, with margins expanding by 150 basis points. Meanwhile, the digital segment reported revenue growth of 20 per cent annually, ahead of the 11 per cent growth in connectivity services. This growth was driven by content, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and managed services.
Published on August 28, 2026
