Jio Platforms' $3.2 billion IPO attracted bids for more than 13 times the shares on offer by the close of bidding on Friday, October 23, as investors piled into India's largest initial public offering. The strong demand puts the telecom and digital services company on course for a closely watched stock market debut next week.
The offering, backed by billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, drew more than 12 million applications, according to a Reliance official cited by Reuters in its report on the final day of bidding. The IPO values Jio Platforms at up to $108.3 billion and marks the first public listing from Ambani's conglomerate in two decades.
The investor response comes as markets reassess valuations across the technology sector, particularly companies tied to artificial intelligence. Jio's offering is therefore attracting attention beyond India, with investors weighing demand for a major telecom listing against changing sentiment toward technology stocks.
Institutional Investors Drive Strong Jio IPO Demand
Institutional investors showed particularly strong interest in the offering. Their allocated portion was subscribed 35 times, while the retail investor portion was subscribed 2.48 times, exchange data cited by Reuters showed. Bids for the portions reserved for existing Reliance shareholders and employees reached 7.16 times and 2.77 times their respective allocations.
The IPO also received substantial backing from anchor investors, including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, BlackRock and Fidelity. These investors placed bids exceeding $25 billion for shares worth $854 million reserved for them, Reuters reported.
Jio's strong reception follows an unusually rapid opening. The offering was fully subscribed within two hours of launching on Wednesday, October 21, before demand increased further during the three-day subscription period.
The listing is an important milestone for Reliance Industries, which owns Jio Platforms. The conglomerate has built a broad business spanning energy, retail and digital services, with Jio becoming a central part of its telecommunications strategy.
Jio's mobile network serves more than 500 million customers, making it one of the largest telecom operators by subscribers in a single country. The company also counts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Google's parent company, among its existing investors.
Jio Listing Puts India's IPO Market in Focus
Jio's planned listing on October 28 will test investor demand for a major Indian stock offering at a time when global markets are scrutinizing technology valuations. The company could become one of India's largest publicly traded businesses by market capitalization, based on its proposed valuation of up to $108.3 billion.
The scale of demand also highlights the role of retail participation in India's equity market. More than 12 million applications were submitted for the Jio offering, exceeding the application count for China's $8.6 billion CXMT semiconductor IPO, according to Reuters.
Jio's parent company has a long history in India's public markets. Reliance Industries' shares have returned around 900% since 2006, compared with a 685% gain for the benchmark Nifty index over the same period, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters.
Jio entered India's telecom market in 2016 with free voice calls and low-cost data services. The strategy disrupted established operators, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, and helped Jio build a subscriber base of more than half a billion users.
The IPO's strong subscription figures demonstrate investor appetite for Jio's scale and position in India's digital economy. However, demand during the bidding period does not guarantee how the shares will perform after listing. Investors will be watching the October 28 debut for an indication of how public markets value the company's growth prospects.