NEW DELHI — Jio Platforms’ initial public offering attracted strong investor interest Wednesday, with bids exceeding the shares available by 2.5 times during the first day of subscription, driven largely by demand from institutional investors.
The 302.13 billion rupee ($3.6 billion) offering, described as India’s largest-ever IPO, received bids for approximately 495.6 million shares against 197.5 million shares available as of 3:15 p.m. local time, according to data from the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Qualified institutional buyers led the demand, with their reserved portion subscribed 7.46 times. The category includes large financial institutions such as mutual funds, insurance companies and other professional investors.
Non-institutional investors, including high-net-worth individuals, subscribed to 1.32 times their allocated shares, while retail investors had bid for approximately 60% of their reserved portion by midafternoon.
The offering also attracted interest from existing Reliance Industries shareholders. The category reserved for them was subscribed 1.16 times, receiving bids for approximately 25.96 million shares against 22.34 million shares available.
The employee reservation portion was also fully subscribed.
The strong opening-day response followed a successful anchor investor placement earlier in the week, when Jio Platforms raised 81.1 billion rupees from 212 institutional investors.
The anchor round drew participation from major international sovereign wealth funds and pension investors, including Singapore’s GIC, Norges Bank Investment Management, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the Qatar Investment Authority and Canada’s PSP Investments.
U.S. pension investors, including the California State Teachers’ Retirement System and the Florida Retirement System, also participated in the placement.
Several prominent Indian financial institutions joined the anchor round, including SBI Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, HDFC Mutual Fund, Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, Nippon India Mutual Fund and Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund.
Insurance and pension investors such as Life Insurance Corporation of India, HDFC Life, SBI Life, SBI Pension, HDFC Pension and UTI Pension were also among the participants.
Jio Platforms, part of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries group, is a major player in India’s telecommunications and digital services industry.
The IPO opened for public subscription Wednesday and will remain available for bidding through October 23.
The company has set a price range of 1,065 to 1,119 rupees per share, with the offering including up to 270 million newly issued shares.
Share allotments are expected to be finalized October 26, followed by the proposed listing of Jio Platforms shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange on October 28.
The first-day subscription figures suggest substantial institutional appetite for the offering, although retail demand remained comparatively subdued as of the afternoon update.
Investor participation during the remaining subscription period will determine the final level of demand ahead of what is expected to be one of India’s most closely watched stock market debuts. (Source: IANS)
