Jio Platforms IPO Draws 3x Bids on Day 1 as Grey Market Cools

A record-breaking open, with a caveat

Jio Platforms got through the first day of India's largest-ever public offering in a way that clears up some doubts and leaves others open. Investors bid for roughly three times the shares on offer on day one. Institutions did most of the buying, while retail investors held back.

The ₹30,213-crore issue is priced at ₹1,065–1,119 per share and closes on October 23. At the top of the band, it values the Reliance Industries-backed company at about ₹10.3 lakh crore.23 Listing is scheduled for October 28.78

The opening hours set the tone. The issue was fully subscribed within about 100 minutes, which several reports described as the fastest subscription for an Indian mega-IPO, ahead of recent large issues such as Hyundai Motor India and LG Electronics.316

The day-end totals differ slightly by outlet and by when each took its snapshot. Moneycontrol reported 3.02 times as of 5:24 pm on BSE data, with bids for 59.55 crore shares against 19.75 crore on offer.12 NDTV Profit's 7 pm figure was 3.16 times.19 The Economic Times and Times Now rounded it to three times.1015 The exact number matters less than the pattern, and every account shows the same one.

Institutions drove the demand

Qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) did the heavy lifting. Their portion was booked about 9 times by late afternoon, and NDTV Profit put the QIB figure at 9.42 times by evening.1219 Non-institutional investors subscribed somewhere between 1.57 and 1.68 times, depending on the snapshot.1519

Retail was the soft spot. Individual investors had bid for only 68–73% of their 8.50 crore-share quota by the close of day one.1519 India Today counted about 28.44 lakh applications and around ₹65,775 crore in total bids.1

The split was visible before the public issue opened. On October 19, Jio raised about ₹8,110 crore from 212 anchor investors at ₹1,119, the top of the band.519 Moneycontrol named BlackRock, Capital Group, Fidelity and T. Rowe Price among them, and The Economic Times added LIC.29 IBTimes India, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that anchor bids topped ₹2.5 lakh crore, more than 30 times the allocation.5

The weak retail figure needs context. Retail books in Indian IPOs often fill on the last day, and the issue includes ₹2,500 crore of shares reserved for eligible Reliance shareholders and ₹500 crore for employees.9 Both groups had passed full subscription on day one.19 The more likely reading is that small investors are waiting to see how bidding develops and whether the grey market holds, not that they are avoiding the issue. Still, a 3x headline built mostly on institutional orders is a different signal from broad, frenzied demand.

The grey market: firm, but past its peak

The grey market premium (GMP) is an unofficial, unregulated measure of expected listing gains, and the reported figures on Jio varied widely. Trackers showed it climbing from ₹148 on October 4 to about ₹260 by the evening of October 20, once the anchor book was filed.1418

It peaked early on opening day at around ₹275–276, which implied a listing gain of nearly 25%.13 It eased through the day. Goodreturns reported ₹253 by early afternoon and noted the dip despite the record subscription pace.17 NDTV Profit cited ₹240 at 7:02 pm.19 Mint reported ₹249 in the evening, or about 22% upside.11

Some outlets reported ranges instead of a single figure. Moneycontrol quoted InvestorGain at ₹247 (22.1%) and IPO Watch at 23.2%.12 Firstpost's morning report used a figure of about 25%.16

Grey market quotes are thin and easy to move, so this spread is normal. The trend is what matters: the premium rose sharply into the open, then gave back a few percentage points as subscription data came in. Investors appear to be pricing in a solid listing pop of around 20–23%, not an open-ended rally. India Today and IBTimes India both reminded readers that GMP does not guarantee listing performance.15

Valuation: a discount by design

The valuation is the clearest strategic choice in the deal. At ₹10.3 lakh crore, or about $108 billion, Jio is coming to market well below the more than $150 billion it reportedly hoped for when it filed its draft prospectus in June.5 The issue is also about 14% smaller than the roughly ₹35,000 crore indicated in the draft papers.5 Some market commentary connects the reduction to weak investor appetite during a long market downturn.7

Brokerages mostly read that pricing as leaving money on the table for new investors. The key figures:

• P/E multiple: Jio is priced at about 33.3 times FY26 earnings at the top of the band, on diluted EPS of ₹33.59.6 Swastika Investmart and others compare that with Bharti Airtel at about 40.7 times, a discount of about 18%.7
• Discount to Reliance's internal value: Systematix said the IPO price is a 19% discount to its own valuation of Jio inside Reliance's consolidated business.1
• The Airtel caveat: The Economic Times noted that Airtel earns higher revenue per user and better returns on capital, and that telecom still produces most of Jio's earnings.2 On those measures, the gap with Airtel is not a free bargain.

On enterprise value, the views differ more:

• Geojit: Jio is valued at about 15 times FY26 EV/EBITDA after the issue. Geojit said that is a premium to industry peers, but justified by market leadership, improving monetisation, cash generation and growth options beyond telecom.110
• Emkay: a range of 15.0–15.6 times EV/EBITDA.6
• Centrum: values Jio's equity at ₹11.5 trillion on 12 times estimated FY28 EV/EBITDA, comfortably above the IPO valuation.3
• Religare: frames the deal at 11.6 times FY28 estimated EV/EBITDA.1

The difference comes down to time horizon. On today's numbers, Jio is not cheap compared with peers. On forward estimates that assume more tariff increases and new revenue streams, it looks reasonably priced.

The fundamentals behind those estimates are large. Jio reported FY26 revenue from operations of ₹1.46 lakh crore, up from ₹1.28 lakh crore the year before.2 Figures circulating in brokerage notes put EBITDA at about ₹73,400 crore and net profit at about ₹30,050 crore.7 The same material cites 533.3 million subscribers as of June 2026 and about 60% of India's wireless data traffic.7

The main bear case, set out by News18, is that at roughly 34 times FY26 profit, much of the expected tariff-hike cycle is already in the price.4

Where the brokerages stand

The brokerages that have published views all recommend subscribing:

• Motilal Oswal Wealth Management: subscribe for both listing gains and the long term.9
• Long-term subscribe ratings: Canara Bank Securities, Religare and Systematix.12
• Subscribe ratings: Emkay and Swastika.6
• Supportive comments: PhilipCapital called the valuation attractive on a forward basis, and SBICAPS said the pricing reflects scale and long-term monetisation potential.7

The reasons are consistent across the notes: telecom dominance, rising revenue per user, wider margins, and newer growth areas in home broadband, enterprise services, cloud and AI.215 What none of the coverage contains is a dissenting "avoid" rating. That is worth noticing, because the risk sections focus almost entirely on valuation.

What the money is for, and what Reliance gets

The structure is a deleveraging exercise, not an exit. The issue consists entirely of 27 crore new shares, with no offer-for-sale.2 That equals about 2.9% of post-issue equity.9 Up to ₹27,500 crore of the net proceeds will go towards repaying or prepaying borrowings at Reliance Jio Infocomm.2

Reliance's stake falls only slightly, from 66.43% to 64.48%.7 At the IPO valuation, its 66.4% holding is worth about ₹6.8 lakh crore.3

With no selling shareholders, the usual worry that insiders are cashing out at the top does not apply. Instead, the deal sets a public market value for a business that analysts have long tried to value inside Reliance's conglomerate structure.

The listing test ahead

Firstpost framed the bigger question: can Jio avoid the pattern of India's biggest IPOs, several of which failed to deliver strong listing-day returns despite their size and brand recognition?16 On day-one evidence, the conditions look better than for recent mega-issues. The anchor book was heavily oversubscribed, institutional demand reached about 9 times, the grey market implies a gain of over 20%, and the pricing appears deliberately conservative.

The risks are clear too. The grey market premium fell from its peak during the first day, and retail investors have yet to commit. Most of the expected gain depends on forward tariff and AI-monetisation assumptions, not on current multiples.

Two days of bidding remain. If retail demand picks up and the premium holds at around 20%, Jio looks likely to list strongly on October 28. Day one points that way, but the retail book is still well short of full.