Jio Platforms IPO Sets Global Record by Crossing One Crore Applications — October 23, 2026

Reliance Industries' telecom and digital arm, Jio Platforms Limited, scripted market history on Friday by becoming the first public issue globally to surpass one crore applications. The landmark was achieved during the final hours of bidding, powered by an unprecedented surge of interest from retail participants, high-net-worth individuals, and institutional investors.

The public issue has overtaken the previous global benchmark held by Waaree Energies, which logged approximately 97 lakh applications. It has also outpaced past Indian record-holders, including Bajaj Housing Finance, which had drawn around 90 lakh applications.

India's Biggest Public Issue

At an issue size of ₹30,213 crore, the public offering is India's largest to date, eclipsing the ₹27,859-crore offer by Hyundai Motor India. Jio Platforms set its price band at ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 per equity share, comprising an entirely fresh issue of 27 crore shares. At the upper end of the price band, the company commands a market valuation of approximately $108 billion.

The issue opened strongly on October 21, getting fully subscribed within hours of launch on its first day. By midday on the final day, exchange data showed overall subscription topping 7.8 times, with bids received for over 154 crore equity shares against the net offer of 19.75 crore shares.

Breakdown of Category-Wise Demand

Demand stayed strong across all segments, led primarily by institutional investors:

• Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs): The institutional quota saw the heaviest demand, booking more than 16 times its allocated portion. Earlier, the anchor book drew over $25 billion in bids for the $854 million reserved, with marquee global funds such as BlackRock, Fidelity, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority participating.
• Non-Institutional Investors (NIIs): High-net-worth investors subscribed over 10 times the shares on offer, with high-value bids exceeding ₹10 lakh leading the category.
• Retail Individual Investors (RIIs): The retail portion, which required a minimum lot size of 12 shares (amounting to ₹13,428 at the upper band), was subscribed more than 2.1 times.
• Shareholders & Employees: The reserved quota for existing Reliance Industries shareholders was subscribed over 6 times, while the employee portion was booked more than 2.5 times.

Digital Ambitions and Capital Deployment

Led by Chairman Akash Ambani, Jio Platforms serves over 500 million subscribers and houses the digital infrastructure, mobile connectivity, cloud, and artificial intelligence initiatives of the Reliance conglomerate. Meta Platforms and Alphabet's Google are among its strategic minority shareholders.

Financially, Jio Platforms reported a profit after tax of around ₹30,050 crore for FY26 on an EBITDA of approximately ₹76,255 crore. Proceeds from the fresh issue will be deployed primarily to retire outstanding borrowings and fund expanding infrastructure across artificial intelligence, cloud ecosystems, and 5G enterprise networks.

The shares are slated to list on both the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and BSE on October 28. For the Indian primary market, the record-breaking response marks a structural milestone, affirming deep retail financialization and robust liquidity in domestic capital markets.

Tags: Jio Platforms Reliance Industries NSE BSE SEBI Telecom