Jio Platforms' initial public offering (IPO) continued to attract strong investor interest on Thursday, October 22, with total bids exceeding four times the shares on offer by the second day of subscription. Retail investors fully subscribed to their allotted portion, adding momentum to what is set to become India's largest-ever IPO.
The ₹30,213-crore public issue, which opened on October 21, has witnessed particularly strong demand from institutional investors. According to stock exchange data, qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) subscribed to 9.78 times their reserved quota, while the retail investor category recorded 1.29 times subscription.
Retail investors, who have been allocated approximately one-third of the issue, fully subscribed to their portion within the first two hours of Thursday's bidding.
The strong response reflects investor confidence in the Reliance Group and Jio's dominant position in India's telecommunications and digital services markets.
Reliance Industries has long been a popular investment among Indian households, with its shares appreciating approximately 330 times since 1990.
Jio's IPO also marks the first public offering by a Reliance Group company in two decades. The listing forms a major part of Ambani's strategy to transform Reliance Industries from an oil and petrochemicals conglomerate into a diversified business spanning telecommunications, retail, technology and digital services.
Jio's public issue attracted overwhelming institutional interest from the opening day itself. The overall offering received bids equivalent to the shares available within just 90 minutes of opening on October 21, driven largely by institutional investors.
This was an unusually strong start for an IPO of this size in India, where large public offerings typically see a significant proportion of bids arriving towards the closing hours.
The latest subscription figures indicate sustained demand ahead of the issue's closing on Friday, October 23.
The IPO has a price band of ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 per share and values Jio Platforms at up to $108.3 billion at the upper end.
Shares are scheduled to begin trading on Indian stock exchanges on October 28. At this valuation, Jio could emerge as one of the country's largest listed companies by market capitalisation.
The offering is also being closely watched as an indicator of investor appetite for large technology-focused listings, particularly at a time when companies associated with artificial intelligence are facing increasing scrutiny over valuations and growth prospects.
