Jio Platforms IPO. Decoded.
India's largest mobile operator comes to market with an all-new-money issue, and most of it retires debt. Every figure comes from the prospectus, and the last chapter lists every page used, so you can check it yourself.
30,213 cr
raised at the top of the price band, all of it new money for the company. No existing owner sells a share.
This is a deleveraging IPO. About 91% of the money repays debt, so the benefit shows up as lower interest cost, not as new capacity.
Source RHP p.72, 116 · the size (new shares × top of the band), the rest and the share are derived
The issue in one look
Data as of 14 October 2026- Price band
- ₹1,065–1,119
- a share, face value ₹10
- One lot
- 12 shares
- ₹13,428 at the top of the band derived
Dates · October 2026
Bidding runs three working days, then about three more to listing. ~ on or about, per the RHP.
Source RHP p.4, 72, 524 · price band and lot: RIL filing, 14 Oct 2026, as reported
The whole case on one page
Five questions decide this issue: where the cash comes from, what the money raised is for, whether the price is fair, how revenue per user can grow, and what it means to own a company inside the Reliance group. The prospectus gives evidence on both sides of each. This page sets the two sides next to each other in plain words. It holds no figures on purpose: each question links to the chapter with the numbers.
Read each row across. The green side is what supports the issue and the red side is what cuts against it. The line under each row says what that balance means for someone weighing the IPO.
Five questions, both sides
For each question that decides the issue: what argues for it, what argues against it, and where the proof is.
Each row is one question. The left side holds the evidence for the issue and the right side the evidence against it, both from the prospectus. The line under each row says what it means and links to the chapter with the numbers. The analyst's signed rating, dated 21 October 2026, is in the stance at the top of the page and in Chapter 14.
Question 1: It turned cash generative as the 5G build ended.
ForEvidence for: Network spending has dropped sharply now that 5G is built, so far more of the operating profit is left over as cash.
AgainstEvidence against: Return on capital employed has fallen in each of the last two years, and it sits well below Bharti Airtel's.
What it means. The case rests on cash flow staying high now that the heavy spending is behind it.
Chapter07The numbersQuestion 2: A deleveraging IPO, not a growth raise.
ForEvidence for: Every rupee raised is new money for the company; no existing holder sells, and most of it repays loans.
AgainstEvidence against: The loans being repaid are cheap foreign-currency ones; the costlier spectrum dues owed to the government stay.
What it means. Repaying these loans trims the interest bill; it does not clear the largest debt.
Chapter05Where the money goesQuestion 3: Cheaper on profit, dearer on cash profit.
ForEvidence for: On price to earnings (P/E) at the top of the price band, the issue is priced below Bharti Airtel (derived).
AgainstEvidence against: On enterprise value to operating profit (EV/EBITDA), the yardstick telecom investors lean on, it is priced above Airtel (our estimate, derived).
What it means. Which ruler you trust decides whether the price looks cheap or full.
Chapter08ValuationQuestion 4: The price needs revenue per user to keep rising.
ForEvidence for: Jio leads the growth pockets: wireless broadband, 5G home internet and new fixed-line connections.
AgainstEvidence against: Airtel earns more from each user, and the prospectus warns that customers may resist future tariff rises and rivals may not follow them.
What it means. Higher tariffs, more than more customers, are the main route to the earnings the price assumes.
Chapter06The industryQuestion 5: You are buying a company inside a group.
ForEvidence for: Reliance backing: a AAA-rated main subsidiary, clean audit reports in all three years and small contingent liabilities.
AgainstEvidence against: Most revenue flows through one group distributor, the brand belongs to the promoter, and some tax demands sit outside the contingent-liability line.
What it means. Minority holders depend on how fairly the group prices its dealings with Jio.
Chapter09The risks
What would change our mind. The analyst states one falsifiable line at sign-off, for example an ARPU or tariff level, or a Q2 FY27 finance-cost print. Until then this page carries evidence, not a verdict.
Taken together, the rows describe a business that has finished its heaviest spending and now earns cash, sold at a price that looks low on one measure and high on another. Two things stay open: whether tariffs keep rising, and how the group deals with Jio. Chapters 6 and 9 cover them.
What this means
This issue pays down debt; it does not fund growth.
Most of the money repays loans, so the benefit shows up as a lower interest bill, not as new network. The larger spectrum dues owed to the government stay on the books.
Cash flow is the heart of the case.
With 5G built, network spending has fallen and much more of the operating profit is left as cash. The case holds only if that spending stays low; Chapter 7 has the trend.
Whether the price looks cheap depends on the ruler.
Against Bharti Airtel the issue looks cheaper on profit and dearer on operating cash profit. Chapter 8 sets out both measures and why telecom investors lean on the second.
Tariffs and the group are the two things to watch.
Higher revenue per user is the main route to the earnings the price assumes, and the prospectus warns customers may resist it. Minority holders also rely on how fairly Reliance deals with Jio.
What Jio actually does
A Jio Platforms share buys a holding company. Under it sit 14 Indian and 19 foreign subsidiaries and one joint venture, but one of them, Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL), does nearly all the work: it holds the telecom licence, the spectrum and the customers. This chapter shows how much rests on that one company, who sells its plans, what carries the Jio name but is left out, and the two numbers that drive its sales. The company report tells the full business.
Exhibit 2 starts with who owns what: Reliance Industries owns Jio Platforms, and Jio Platforms owns RJIL. The bars then show RJIL’s share of the group’s revenue, operating profit (EBITDA) and profit after tax. Its share of profit is higher than its share of sales, so the newer businesses around it add sales but little profit so far. The last bar shows how much revenue is prepaid recharges, all of it sold by Reliance Retail, a sister company.
What an IPO buyer is buying
Who earns the money, who sells it, what is left out, and the two levers behind revenue
Top: each bar is 100% of the group for the chosen period. The coloured part is RJIL (blue) or prepaid recharges sold by Reliance Retail (orange); the rest is our arithmetic. Right: businesses that are not part of this IPO. Bottom: customers and ARPU at each date the RHP reports; the latest date is shown, pick another to read it.
PromoterReliance Industries
You buy thisJio Platforms Ltd- Material subsidiaryReliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL)
What the bars say, FY26RJIL earned 87.74% of revenue but 93.76% of profit after tax. Prepaid recharges sold through Reliance Retail were 77.08% of revenue.
Not in this IPO
Carries the Jio name, or Jio relies on it, but sits outside Jio Platforms.
- Reliance Retail, JioMart and AJIOA sister company. It sells every Jio prepaid recharge.
Jio Financial ServicesA separate company that JPL does not control. It uses the Jio Finance name.
JioStar (JioHotstar)Run by Jiostar India, not by JPL. Jio offers it in bundled packs.- Reliance Intelligence and its Meta joint ventureRIL's AI businesses. Jio is a partner, not the owner.
- Data centres in Jamnagar, Nagpur and MumbaiProvided by RIL, the promoter, at cost plus a margin.
- The Jio trademark itselfOwned by RIL, the promoter, and shared with other group companies.
The two levers: customers × ARPU
Customers, million
ARPU, ₹ per user a month
The list beside the bars matters as much. JioHotstar, Jio Financial Services and Reliance Retail carry the name, but a Jio Platforms share does not own them. Even the Jio trademark belongs to Reliance Industries, which licenses it to Jio Platforms with no royalty today.
The bottom of the exhibit shows the two levers behind revenue: how many customers Jio has, and how much each one pays a month (ARPU). After the tariff rise in FY25, ARPU jumped while customer growth slowed; by FY26 both were rising again. These counts describe RJIL’s connectivity business only, as the RHP itself notes, not the newer platform businesses.
Know Your CompanyJio Platforms, the full businessWhat this means
One company does the earning.
Buying Jio Platforms is, in practice, buying Reliance Jio Infocomm. Its share of profit is even higher than its share of sales, and the RHP lists this dependence as a risk.
A sister company sells most of it.
Every prepaid recharge reaches customers through Reliance Retail, which is not part of this IPO. The RHP says other distributors exist, but Jio uses Reliance Retail for its large network. Chapter 9 weighs this with the other risks.
Some of what says Jio is not in the deal.
JioHotstar, Jio Financial Services and the Jio trademark itself belong elsewhere in the Reliance group. Jio Platforms uses the name and the data centres through agreements, so their terms matter to a shareholder.
Revenue is customers times ARPU.
After the FY25 tariff rise, the money per customer jumped first and customers followed a year later. Growth from here needs both to keep rising; Chapter 8 shows how much of the price rests on ARPU.
The promoter, the board and the people who run it
Jio Platforms is a Reliance company, run by people who have spent most of their careers at Reliance. This chapter looks at three things a buyer of the IPO should know: who sits on the board and who controls it, who runs the business day to day, and how much of the company those managers own. What the promoter itself owns, and what it paid, is in Chapter 4.
The board has ten seats. Five come from the Reliance side: four Ambanis and one long-serving Reliance executive. The other five are independent directors. The chairman, Mukesh Ambani, is non-executive; his son Akash is the one executive on the board.
Ten seats: five from the Reliance side, five independent
The promoter, the board of Jio Platforms and the two Ambanis who lead it
The bar is the board: one block per seat, the Reliance side on the left in Reliance's colour (solid for the Ambani family, outlined for Manoj Modi), the Managing Director in Jio blue and the independent directors in grey. Hover or tap a seat to read that director's background; the arrow keys move along the bar.
Pending casesLitigation against the promoter: 3 criminal, 756 tax and 5 material civil cases totalling ₹44,187 crore plus US$4.13 billion, led by the KG-D6 gas-migration claim (US$2.81 billion, Supreme Court, part-heard). Against the company itself: eight tax cases worth ₹7.5 crore.
- RIL, Meta and Google could each nominate directors under the shareholder agreements. Every such right ends on listing.
- Three leadership changes in March 2026, three months before the DRHP: the CEO (Kiran Thomas resigned, Pankaj Pawar appointed), the Meta and Google nominee directors (both resigned), and one independent director replaced by Zia Mody.
- Joint auditors Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP and Chaturvedi & Shah LLP, unchanged for five years.
- Mukesh D. AmbaniChairman, non-executive · since Jul 2020
- Akash M. AmbaniManaging Director · since Nov 2019
- Isha M. AmbaniNon-executive director · since Nov 2019
- Anant M. AmbaniNon-executive director · since Mar 2020
- Manoj H. ModiNon-executive director · since Jul 2020
- Raminder Singh GujralIndependent · chairs Audit Committee · since Jul 2020
- Dr Shumeet BanerjiIndependent · chairs NRC, Risk, CSR · since Jul 2020
- Haigreve KhaitanIndependent · since Jul 2020
- Dinesh H. KanabarIndependent · since Jul 2020
- Zia J. ModyIndependent · since 25 Mar 2026
Why it matters: after listing, the independent directors are the board's main check on Reliance. The audit committee, which must approve deals with related parties such as Reliance group companies, is chaired by one of them, R.S. Gujral, and three of its four members are independent. The large cases sit with the promoter. The company itself faces only the eight small tax cases shown above.
The second exhibit moves from the board to the managers. It ranks everyone paid as a key manager or senior manager in FY26, so you can see who earns most, who is new and who holds shares in the company.
Who runs Jio day to day, and what each was paid in FY26
All fourteen key managers and senior managers paid in FY26, ranked by gross pay
Each row is one person; the bar is FY26 gross pay and the figure at its end is in ₹ crore. The Managing Director's bar is Jio blue, with his approved pay band behind it. A small ring after a name means the person holds shares. Hover or tap a bar, or use the arrow keys, to read the person's tenure, shares and job.
Read the ladder from the top. Technology and strategy leaders are paid more than the Managing Director, who sits inside the lower part of his approved band. Ten of the fourteen hold between 40,000 and 90,000 shares through the 2020 employee option plan, so they gain or lose with other shareholders, but on a small scale.
What this means
Reliance keeps control of the board
Five of the ten seats belong to the Reliance side, and both the chairman and the Managing Director are Ambanis. Half the board is independent, which meets the listing rule and goes no further.
Outside board rights end at listing
The shareholder agreements let Reliance, Meta and Google nominate directors. All of those rights end when the shares list, and the Meta and Google nominees have already stepped down.
Managers own a little; directors own none
Ten of the fourteen paid managers hold shares, each under 0.01% of the company. No director holds any directly; the Ambani family's interest runs through Reliance.
A recently reshaped leadership team
The CEO, the Group President, the head of wireless and the head of international business all took their present roles in 2026. This team's record together, in these jobs, is short.
Who owns Jio, before and after
This IPO sells only new shares, so no current owner sells any. The RHP lists 104 shareholders today, and the ten largest hold 97.32% between them. This chapter looks at three things: how each owner's slice changes, what the big owners paid for it, and when they may first sell.
The first exhibit below puts the owner list before the IPO next to the list after it. Because no one sells, every existing stake shrinks by the same small proportion, and the new public shareholders take the gap.
New shareholders get 2.93%; every existing stake shrinks by the same proportion
% of all shares, before and after the IPO · select an owner in the bars or the list
The two bars are the whole company before and after the IPO; each slice is one owner or group. Reliance, Meta and Google wear their brand colours, the funds are grey, and the new public shareholders are the hatched end of the second bar. Select a slice or a row to see that owner's share before and after, its shares, the money it put in and what that means.
none to 2.93%
27.00 crore shares
Everyone who buys in this IPO, anchors included. Most of the shares free to trade on listing day sit here; the anchors' part is locked for 30 and 90 days.
Every holder before → after · after is derived
- Reliance Industries (promoter)66.43% to 64.48%
Jaadhu Holdings (Meta)9.98% to 9.69%
Google International7.73% to 7.50%
- PIF · KKR · Vista Equity2.31% to 2.25%
Silver Lake (two vehicles)2.08% to 2.02%
Mubadala (MIC Redwood 1)1.85% to 1.80%
General Atlantic1.34% to 1.30%
ADIA (Platinum Jasmine A 2018 Trust)1.16% to 1.12%
- TPG (India Markets)0.93% to 0.90%
- Intel Capital · L Catterton · Qualcomm0.93% to 0.90%
- ESOP trust, employees, 2020 CCD holders0.64% to 0.62%
- New IPO shareholders– to 2.93%
- No owner sells: every stake shrinks in the same proportion, after = before × shares before ÷ shares after (derived). Silver Lake combines its two vehicles; the employee and new-shareholder rows come from the allotment table; money put in = shares allotted × issue price.
For a buyer in this IPO, two things follow. Reliance stays in control with about two-thirds of the company, and its loan terms bar any change in capital structure that takes it below a 51% stake. And the new public shareholders own a thin slice, so a few large owners still hold almost all of the company.
The next exhibit sets what each group paid per share against the top of the IPO price band. Every big owner bought far below the IPO price.
The 2020 investors paid less than half the IPO price
Price paid per share, on one axis that ends at the IPO cap · select a group
Each lane runs from zero to the IPO cap price. The solid part is what that group paid per share; the dashed rest is the gap to the IPO price, and the multiple at the end is the IPO cap divided by the price paid. Select a lane for the dates, the yearly rate and the money put in.
- Reliance, the promoter
- Meta and Google
- The other 2020 investors
₹488.34a share
Bought in July and November 2020
- At the IPO cap
- 2.29x
- Yearly, about derived
- 14–15%
- Put in derived
- ₹77,310 cr
The two strategic partners paid the lowest outside price and have more than doubled their money on paper.
- Multiple = IPO cap ÷ price paid; yearly rates compound to the October 2026 allotment, no dividend paid (all derived).
Meta, Google and the funds all bought in 2020. At the cap price each has a little more than doubled its money on paper, about 12% to 15% a year (derived). Reliance built its stake from 2019 at a far lower average cost. These are past entry prices: they show the owners' paper gains, not what the shares are worth now. Chapter 8 deals with the price.
Shares held before the IPO cannot be sold straight away. The rules lock them in for set periods from the allotment date. The last exhibit in this chapter shows each date and how much of the company may first become free to sell.
When locked-in shares may first be sold
Share of the company freed at each date, counted from the expected allotment date · select a date
Each column is one date when a group of locked-in shares may first be sold; its height is that group's share of the company after the issue. The six-month column splits into Meta (blue), Google (yellow) and the funds (grey). Reliance's two dates are in its brand colour.
6 monthsabout 26 Apr 2027
up to 32.59% of the company may first be sold derived
The big date. Employee-plan (ESOS) and ESOP-trust shares are exempt from this lock-in, so the figure is an upper bound.
- All shares are % of the company after the issue; anchors assume the full anchor portion is taken at the cap price (derived). An AIF or FVCI holder is locked for six months from when it bought, not from allotment.
- The 2020 investors' block, about 31.98% (derived), is the one to watch: Meta and Google alone hold almost six times the new public float.
The six-month date is the large one: Meta, Google and the funds may then sell for the first time. A lock-in ending does not mean anyone will sell; it only means they may. Reliance cannot sell any share for a year, and its 20% minimum contribution stays locked for three.
What this means
Reliance keeps control
The promoter keeps about two-thirds of the company after the issue. The company's loan terms bar any change in capital structure that takes it below 51%.
No one cashes out on the way in
Every share in the issue is new, so the money goes to the company, not to an exiting owner. Chapter 5 shows where it goes.
The big owners bought much cheaper
Every large holder paid less than half the IPO cap price. Their paper gains are large, which is worth knowing when they become free to sell.
Watch the six-month date
Up to about a third of the company may first be sold around April 2027. Meta and Google alone hold almost six times the new public float (derived).
Where the money goes
Every share in this issue is new. No existing owner sells, so all the money goes to the company. Almost all of it is set aside to repay three foreign-currency loans. The rest pays for the issue and for general corporate purposes, which can take no more than a quarter of the money raised. The real question is which debt goes, because Jio owes two very different kinds of money.
Exhibit 8 puts every debt Jio carries side by side. The blue strip on the left is the three loans the IPO repays: narrow and low, because they are cheap. The grey blocks are what Jio still owes the government for spectrum (airwaves). Together they are about three and a half times the size of the loans (derived), and every one of them carries a higher rate.
The IPO pays down cheap loans; the dearer spectrum dues stay
The three loans the IPO repays and the spectrum dues it leaves, 30 June 2026 · width is the amount owed, height the interest rate, so area is interest a year
Each block is one debt. Its width is how much is owed and its height is the interest rate, so a bigger area means more interest each year. The blue strip on the left is the three loans the IPO is to repay; their rate is printed only as a range, so the top of the strip is hatched. The grey blocks are spectrum dues owed to the government, which the IPO leaves alone. Point at or tap a block, or tap a row in the list, to read it.
Three loans, prepaid in full or in part
- Term loans of Nov 2022US$1,200 mn + ¥41,814 mn · 15 banks · Matures Jun 2028₹13,798 cr
- Term loans of Jun 2023US$676 mn + ¥44,923 mn · 16 banks · Matures 26 Jun 2028₹9,019 cr
- Term loan of Mar 2022US$750 mn · 7 banks · Matures 16 Mar 2028₹7,100 cr
Spectrum dues to the government
- Spectrum bought in Aug 20225G auction · 16 yearly instalments₹73,425 cr
- Spectrum bought in Mar 20212021 auction · 13 yearly instalments₹30,212 cr
- Spectrum bought in Jul 20242024 auction · 18 yearly instalments from Aug 2026₹876 cr
- Each loan can be prepaid without a penalty on seven days' notice; the amount set aside is less than what is owed, so they are repaid in full or in part.
- General corporate purposes are capped at 25% of the money raised. Issue expenses stay blank until the Prospectus, so that line is a difference, not a disclosed figure.
- Crisil Ratings is the monitoring agency for how the money is used. No bridge loan was taken against the issue.
- Interest a year is our arithmetic: amount owed × rate, before hedging costs and tax.
- Jio's other bank and term loans are not drawn: the IPO does not repay them, and the RHP prints only one rate range for all its term loans together.
So the IPO lowers Jio's debt, but it takes away only a small part of the yearly interest bill. The two figures beside the chart are our own arithmetic: the interest the repayment removes, and the interest left on the spectrum dues. Chapter 7 shows what this does to Jio's finance cost and profit. The loans are also in dollars and yen, so paying them early means fewer repayments exposed to a weaker rupee.
Exhibit 9 sets the issue against India’s largest. It is the biggest of the four, but the bigger difference is where the money went. In the earlier record issues, owners sold their shares and the company raised nothing. Here the cash lands on Jio’s own balance sheet.
The largest Indian IPO, and the only one of the four that is all new money
Issue size, ₹ crore, at the top of each price band
- ₹30,213 crderived
- ₹27,870 crderived
- ₹20,557 cr
- ₹18,300 cr
- Jio's size is at the top of the price band. The comparisons in the readings are our arithmetic; Hyundai's size is 14.22 crore shares × ₹1,960 from its prospectus.
What this means
The money stays in the company
Every share is new and nobody sells, so the cash goes to Jio, not to a selling owner. Existing owners keep all their shares, though each now owns a slightly smaller percentage of a larger company.
It repays the cheapest debt
The three loans being repaid carry the lowest rates in Exhibit 8. The interest saved is real, but it is small next to the interest on the spectrum dues, which stay on the books.
Less exposure to the rupee
The loans were borrowed in dollars and yen. Repaying them early cuts the foreign-currency payments Jio has to cover and hedge.
The spending is watched
Crisil Ratings monitors how the money is used and reports on it. If the loans need less than the amount set aside, the balance goes to general corporate purposes, still within the cap. Some of the lenders are linked to the issue's lead managers; the company says it sees no conflict of interest.
A four-player market with pricing power
Indian mobile is run by two big private operators, Jio and Bharti Airtel, with Vodafone Idea and state-owned BSNL far behind. Together Jio and Airtel hold about 85% of wireless broadband users derived. Price rises tend to come across the whole industry. The RHP says the last one lifted what each user pays, but it also made more users leave.
So the question for this IPO is a narrow one. Jio is the bigger network. Airtel earns more from what it has. The price of the shares is, in effect, a view on how far Jio can close that gap.
Exhibit 10 puts the two side by side on eight measures. Jio is on the left, Airtel's India business on the right, and the solid bar in each row marks the leader. The reading panel shows the overall count from the start, so the main point needs no tap.
Jio against Airtel: bigger, but earning less
Jio against Bharti Airtel's India business (excluding passive infrastructure), latest reported figures
Each row is one measure. Jio's bar grows to the left, Airtel's to the right, from the centre; the longer bar in each row is the larger figure, and the leader's bar is solid. Point at a row, tap it, or move with the arrow keys to read the exact values, the gap and what it means in the panel.
- Airtel's ARPU is its India mobile figure. Returns (†) use Airtel's whole group, including Africa, because the RHP gives no India-only figure. Gaps, the tally and the cash-after-capex row are our arithmetic.
- The market-share figure in the opening paragraph is TRAI data as cited in the industry overview, which comes from the Analysys Mason report of 7 Oct 2026, commissioned and paid for by the issuer. Commissioned reports are not independent; the RHP itself lists this as risk factor 36.
Market shares, the price of data, ARPU history and every tariff round are told in full in the telecom sector report.
Know Your SectorTelecomRead the chart in three blocks. On scale, Jio is ahead on every row: more customers, more data per user and fewer users leaving each month. On earning power, Airtel is ahead on every row: more revenue per user, a higher operating margin and more cash left after paying for its network. On returns, Airtel's group earns far more on the money tied up in the business.
What this means
Jio wins on size
It has the most customers and its users stay longer. A large, loyal base means any rise in what each user pays adds up quickly.
Airtel wins on earnings
It makes more from each user and keeps more of each rupee as profit and spare cash. That is the standard Jio is measured against.
Price rises are the swing factor
Closing the gap per user depends mostly on industry tariff rises and richer plans. The RHP notes the last rise also pushed churn up, so the gain is not assured.
Returns are the slowest gap to close
Jio's returns on capital and on net worth trail Airtel's group by a wide margin. Chapter 8 weighs this against the price asked.
Growing, profitable, and now cash generative
This chapter reads the accounts: three full years of restated results and the last nine quarters. The short version is a business growing in the mid-teens, with margins rising and the heavy 5G spending now mostly behind it. Three weak spots remain. Return on capital has slipped, interest costs jumped once the network went live, and the tax bill will not stay near zero.
Revenue rose in every one of the nine quarters, and the EBITDA margin rose with it. Below that line the picture is less smooth. Once the 5G network went live, interest on its borrowings stopped being added to the cost of the network and started counting against profit. That is why profit fell in the latest quarter even as EBITDA grew, and why most of the issue money goes to paying off loans (Chapter 5).
Nine quarters of results
₹ crore a quarter: revenue with the EBITDA margin, or where EBITDA goes (depreciation, finance cost, profit)
Switch between the two views. Revenue and margin: each column is a quarter's revenue; the line above is the EBITDA margin. Where EBITDA goes: each column stacks depreciation, finance cost and profit after tax. Hover or tap a column for its exact figures; arrow keys move between quarters.
Latest quarter
Q1 FY27
- Revenue
- ₹39,173 cr+2.4% on the quarter before
- EBITDA margin
- 53.3%+0.9 pts
The latest quarter, and the highest margin of the nine.
- Changes on the quarter before are our arithmetic on the reported figures derived.
This is the change the whole issue rests on. While the 5G network was being built, almost all of what the business earned went straight back into it. Now spending on the network is falling while earnings keep rising, so more cash is left each year to pay interest and cut debt.
The cash-flow turn
Each year's EBITDA, split into cash spent on the network (capex) and what is left, ₹ crore
Year to 31 March
FY26
- EBITDA
- ₹76,255 cr
- Cash capex
- ₹34,184 cr23.3% of revenue
- Left after capex
- ₹42,071 cr
More than half of EBITDA now stays as cash after paying for the network.
The full statements are here for anyone who wants to check the totals. Two lines matter most for the years ahead: tax and depreciation. Both make today's profit look a little better than it will stay, for the reasons given under the tables.
Profit and loss, cash flow and balance sheet
The three statements in full; switch between them. Key lines are in bold.
| ₹ crore | FY24 | FY25 | FY26 | Q1 FY27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue from operations | 1,09,558 | 1,28,218 | 1,46,885 | 39,173 |
| Growth | — | 17.0% | 14.6% | 11.8% YoY |
| Other income | 617 | 1,115 | 2,874 | 1,025 |
| Network operating expenses | 30,338 | 33,355 | 34,492 | 8,873 |
| Licence fee and spectrum charges | 9,213 | 10,495 | 11,710 | 3,107 |
| Employee costs | 5,382 | 6,208 | 6,649 | 1,684 |
| EBITDA | 54,959 | 64,170 | 76,255 | 20,865 |
| EBITDA margin | 50.2% | 50.0% | 51.9% | 53.3% |
| Depreciation and amortisation | 22,103 | 24,138 | 27,249 | 7,458 |
| Finance cost | 4,048 | 4,905 | 8,653 | 2,980 |
| Profit before tax | 28,808 | 35,127 | 40,353 | 10,427 |
| Current tax | 70 | 84 | 118 | 30 |
| Deferred tax | 7,304 | 8,923 | 10,182 | 2,633 |
| Profit after tax | 21,423 | 26,109 | 30,049 | 7,764 |
| PAT margin | 19.6% | 20.4% | 20.5% | 19.8% |
| EPS, basic (₹) | 23.96 | 29.21 | 33.63 | 8.69 |
| Interest cover (EBIT ÷ finance cost) | 8.1x | 8.2x | 5.7x | 4.5x |
- Current tax is near zero because past losses and unabsorbed depreciation are being set off. The RHP warns cash taxes will rise once they run out.
- FY26 depreciation was ₹1,841 crore lower because network assets are now written off over 18 years instead of 16.
| ₹ crore | FY24 | FY25 | FY26 | Q1 FY27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash from operations | 57,662 | 68,156 | 77,556 | 23,446 |
| Cash capex (net) | 53,510 | 44,268 | 34,184 | 4,184 |
| Spectrum instalments paid | 4,423 | 4,574 | 4,736 | — |
| Finance costs paid | 13,640 | 13,408 | 12,241 | 320 |
| Cash from investing | −56,588 | −63,726 | −43,591 | −9,822 |
| Cash from financing | 379 | 1,093 | −25,419 | −11,154 |
| Capex ÷ revenue | 48.8% | 34.5% | 23.3% | 10.7% |
| EBITDA less cash capex | 1,449 | 19,902 | 42,071 | 16,681 |
| CFO ÷ PAT | 2.69x | 2.61x | 2.58x | 3.02x |
- Finance costs paid are higher than the P&L charge in FY24–26 because interest on the 5G build was capitalised.
- Cash from operations is well above profit every year because network depreciation is large and non-cash. Earnings quality passes comfortably.
| ₹ crore | 31 Mar 24 | 31 Mar 25 | 31 Mar 26 | 30 Jun 26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net worth (ex-OCI) | 2,77,866 | 3,04,022 | 3,34,013 | 3,41,779 |
| Borrowings | 54,349 | 73,060 | 70,781 | 61,372 |
| Cash and current investments | 5,909 | 27,787 | 43,202 | 51,833 |
| Net debt (company definition) | 48,440 | 45,273 | 27,579 | 9,539 |
| Deferred spectrum dues to DoT | 1,12,844 | 1,09,146 | 1,04,514 | 1,04,514 |
| Lease liabilities | 12,762 | 12,636 | 13,888 | 12,168 |
| Deferred tax liability | 21,885 | 30,865 | 41,210 | 43,812 |
| Spectrum (net book value) | 69,852 | 1,47,122 | 1,88,120 | 1,86,017 |
| Return on avg capital employed | 12.83% | 12.50% | 10.76% | 2.56% (qtr) |
| Return on avg net worth | 8.02% | 8.97% | 9.42% | 2.30% (qtr) |
| NAV per share (₹) | 310.85 | 340.11 | 373.66 | 382.34 |
- Net worth leaves out other comprehensive income, as SEBI defines it.
- Peers' net debt includes spectrum dues (and, for one peer, leases); Jio's excludes both, so the leverage ratios are not directly comparable.
Debt is usually judged against what a company earns in a year. The answer here depends on what counts as debt. On the company's own measure, the issue money would leave Jio with more cash than borrowings. Count the money it owes the government for spectrum, and its leases, and the debt is still well above zero.
The deleveraging path
Net debt ÷ a year's EBITDA, on two definitions. 'After IPO' takes the issue proceeds off the June 2026 balance sheet.
On FY26 EBITDA
After IPO
- Incl. spectrum dues and leases
- 1.26x
- Company definition
- −0.27x
Our arithmetic: the June 2026 balance sheet less the issue proceeds. On the company's definition, cash would exceed borrowings; spectrum dues and leases stay.
derived- June 2026 and After IPO are our arithmetic on FY26 EBITDA derived. The RHP's own June 2026 figure is 0.46x, because it divides by one quarter's EBITDA.
What this means
Growth is steady, not explosive.
Revenue rose every quarter, first from the industry-wide tariff increase and then from more customers using more data. The latest quarters grew without a new tariff round.
The big spending is mostly done.
At the peak of the 5G build, network spending took almost all of EBITDA. Now most of it stays as cash, and that cash is what pays the interest and the debt.
Interest is the line to watch.
Interest now runs through profit instead of being added to the network's cost. The issue pays off some foreign-currency loans, but the spectrum dues to the government stay.
Today's profit gets some help.
Past losses keep current tax near zero, and longer asset lives cut FY26 depreciation. The RHP warns that cash tax will rise once those losses are used up.
What the price asks
A price is only high or low against something else. This chapter sets Jio's price band beside Bharti Airtel and the RHP's own list of listed peers, on the two measures telecom investors use most. Then it asks how much growth the price already counts on, and what brokers and bankers said Jio was worth before the issue.
P/E sets the price against one year's profit. EV/EBITDA sets the whole business, debt included, against its operating cash profit before depreciation. The second one matters in telecom, where companies spend heavily on networks and carry large spectrum dues.
Two rulers, two answers
Jio's FY26 multiples after the issue, against Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and the RHP's peer average. Choose the floor or the cap.
Select a mark for its own reading.
P/E
Price ÷ a year's profit
On profit, Jio is cheaper than Airtel but dearer than the peer average.
EV/EBITDA
Value ÷ operating cash profit
On cash profit, Airtel is cheaper, with Jio's spectrum dues counted or not.
- Peer P/E is the RHP's own (NSE close, 13 Oct 2026). Airtel's EV/EBITDA is ours derived: market cap about ₹11.2 lakh crore (NSE close, 14 Oct 2026, reported) plus net debt of 1.36 times its FY26 EBITDA of ₹1,21,268 crore, about ₹1,64,900 crore. The RHP notes the peers' net debt includes spectrum dues, one peer's also leases.
- Airtel keeps about 28% of its EBITDA as profit, Jio about 39% derived: that is why the two rulers disagree.
- Dashed marks price the cap plus the 14 Oct grey-market premium, for a listing-day buyer only. GMP is unofficial and not a SEBI-recognised measure (chapter 10).
The two rulers point in different directions. On profit, Jio is priced below Airtel. On operating cash profit, it is priced above Airtel, whether Jio's spectrum dues are counted or not. The gap comes from how much of each rupee of EBITDA ends up as profit: Jio keeps more than Airtel, so its P/E looks lower. The table beside the rulers gives the other common multiples at the floor and the cap.
A price also sets an expectation. If the market valued Jio the way it values Airtel on EV/EBITDA, Jio's yearly EBITDA would have to be much larger than it was in FY26. The next exhibit shows that gap, and how far a higher monthly revenue per user (ARPU) would go towards closing it.
What growth the price needs
Priced like Airtel on EV/EBITDA, how much more EBITDA Jio's price at the cap needs, and what a higher ARPU would add.
EBITDA the price needs, priced like Airtel
about ₹1,06,000 cr needed derived
If ARPU were higher · each ₹1 a month adds about ₹640 cr of revenue a year derived
- ₹230+6.7%+₹9,215 cr
- ₹240+11.3%+₹15,615 cr
₹264about Airtel's level today+₹30,974 cr- ₹300+39.1%+₹54,013 cr
- All values are our own arithmetic derived: Jio's enterprise value at the cap divided by Airtel's EV/EBITDA, and growth years at 15% a year.
- ARPU rows hold customers at the Q1 FY27 base. They are revenue, not profit, and not a forecast.
Jio's EBITDA has been growing fast, so the gap is not out of reach. But the price assumes that pace carries on for a few more years. An ARPU close to Airtel's level today would add revenue about the size of the gap, and only part of any new revenue reaches EBITDA once costs are paid.
Before the issue, several brokers and bankers published their own estimates of what Jio was worth. Each line below is one estimate in US dollars, set against this IPO's value from the floor to the cap.
What others said Jio was worth
Pre-IPO equity value estimates in US$ billion, as reported, against this IPO between the floor and the cap (the shaded band).
- Goldman SachsMay 2025BRLM98–154
- ICICI SecuritiesOct 2025 · valued at Sep 2027BRLM148
- Bankers' proposalsNov 2025 · reported130–170
- JM FinancialDec 2025BRLM140
- Elara CapitalJun 2026136–146
- Dolat CapitalJun 2026110
- Motilal OswalOct 2026117
- Company targetOct 2026 · Bloomberg108–114
- 90135180
- The band is the market cap at the floor and the cap at ₹94.66 per US$, the RHP's rate for 30 Jun 2026 derived. Estimates as reported by BusinessToday, IndMoney, Outlook Business, Business Standard and CNBC; dates and bases differ (some enterprise value, some forward). 'BRLM' marks houses whose group is a lead manager on this issue. These are estimates, not IPO ratings, and several are single-source.
Every published estimate sits inside the IPO's range or above it; none is below it. Read these with care. Three come from groups that are lead managers on this issue, the dates and methods differ, and an estimate of what a company is worth says nothing about how its shares will trade.
What this means
Two rulers, two answers.
Against Airtel, Jio is cheaper on a year's profit and dearer on operating cash profit. Telecom investors lean on the second, because it is not flattered by tax and depreciation choices.
The price already counts on growth.
To be priced like Airtel on EV/EBITDA, Jio needs about 2.4 more years of EBITDA growth at 15% a year (derived, our arithmetic). A slowdown would leave the price looking full.
ARPU is the lever.
Most of the growth has to come from each customer paying more. Getting close to Airtel's ARPU today would roughly cover the gap in revenue, but not all of that reaches EBITDA.
Other estimates are higher, not a rating.
No published estimate is below this IPO's value. They are views of what Jio is worth, from houses with different dates and methods, some of them lead managers on this issue. None of them is an IPO rating.
So what: Measured against Airtel, the two rulers disagree: cheaper on profit, dearer on operating cash profit. Which one matters is the analyst's call at sign-off.
Seven risks that matter
Every prospectus has a long list of risks. This one has 65, 46 about the company itself and 19 about the world around it, put in the order the company thinks matters most. Most are standard. Seven carry most of the weight for someone deciding on this IPO, and we scored each one twice, on a 1 to 5 scale: how likely it is, and how much it would hurt. The facts come from the RHP; the scores are our own draft judgement.
The map below puts the seven side by side. Group dependence sits highest because it is both likely and costly: the parent sells the prepaid plans, supplies data centres and back office, and lends the name. The brand licence is the opposite case. We think it is the least likely of the seven, but it would hurt the most if it happened.
Group dependence weighs most of the seven
Seven risks placed by probability (across) and impact (up), each on a 1–5 scale · draft scores · draft ranking for analyst sign-off
Each numbered disc is one risk: the further right, the more likely we think it is; the higher, the more it would hurt. Red cells score more: 15 or more is high, 9 to 14 medium, below 9 low. The list ranks the same seven by score, with what each one is in a line. Select a risk on either side to light it on both and read it under the map.
Highest score
Group dependence
Probability 4 · Impact 4 · Score 16 of 25 · High
Likely and costly: the darkest band on the map.
- Score = probability × impact, out of 25 derived. The probability and impact numbers are our draft judgement, not the RHP's, and wait for analyst sign-off.
- Finance cost (4) and competition (5) share a cell: we gave them the same probability and the same impact.
Two of the seven lead back to Reliance Industries: group dependence and the brand. Three are about how much profit the network can earn and keep: return on capital, finance cost and competition for the higher-paying customer. Tariffs and court cases sit with regulators and judges, outside the company's control.
A risk is only useful if you can check it later. Each stop below is something the company must publish, or a decision with a known home, so a shareholder can see whether a risk is growing or fading after listing.
After listing, six things to watch
In time order, each tied to a fact in the RHP and to the risks on the map it tests
- Every quarterThe monitoring agency's reportCrisil Ratings reports each quarter on how the money raised is spent, until all of it is used.Tests risk 4, Finance cost and spectrum dues
- From November 2026Lock-ins end in stagesAnchor, pre-IPO and promoter shares become free to sell on set dates.Dates in chapter 04
- FY27 resultsFinance cost after the repaymentThe RHP plans to spend the repayment money within FY2027; the results after it show the new finance cost.Tests risk 4, Finance cost and spectrum dues
- First annual reportRelated-party total and distributor marginThe shareholder-approved limits for group dealings run to FY2032; the report shows how much was used.Tests risk 1, Group dependence
- Any quarterTariffs, customers and churnPrice rounds, TRAI rules and net adds against Airtel decide whether earnings per user keep rising.Tests risk 2, Tariffs and regulation; risk 3, Return on capital; risk 5, Competition, including satellite
- No date setTwo court rulingsThe Supreme Court has the DoT's spectrum-charge appeal, with no stay; the GST tower-credit disputes are before tax forums.Tests risk 2, Tariffs and regulation; risk 7, Litigation and tax claims
Most stops come with a date. The two court rulings do not, and neither is in the company's hands, so they can arrive at any time.
What this means
The biggest risk is the parent.
Selling, data centres, back office and the name all run through Reliance companies. This IPO buys a business inside a group, not a stand-alone one.
The worst case is unlikely, but not zero.
The brand licence can end if Reliance Industries loses control of the company. It scores low only because we think that is very unlikely.
The middle of the map is about cost.
Return on capital, finance cost and the end of the tax set-off decide how much profit reaches shareholders. The FY27 results are the first to show the effect of the loan repayment.
The scores are a draft.
Probability and impact are our judgement and wait for analyst sign-off. The facts behind them are in the RHP, and the watch list shows where to check each one.
What the grey market and institutions say
Before an IPO opens, people look for early signs of demand. This chapter puts three of them side by side. The grey market is an unofficial place where people trade the promise of shares before they list. The anchor book is where large funds bid just before the issue opens. The banks running the issue leave a firmer trail: the RHP prints how every IPO they ran last year traded after listing. The first two are moods. The third is history. None of them is a forecast.
The grey-market premium is the extra amount, per share, that people in this unofficial market say they will pay over the issue price. Over twelve days it rose by about a third, and it jumped again when the price band came out. It is not regulated, four trackers gave four different figures on the same day, and it can fall as fast as it rises.
The grey-market premium rose by a third in twelve days
₹ per share people in the unofficial market quoted over the issue price, 2–14 Oct 2026
Each dot is one day's grey-market premium on IPO Watch: the extra rupees per share people in the unofficial market said they would pay over the issue price. Until 14 October the price band was not published, so those readings were quoted against an expected price. Trackers disagree, so read the trend, not the exact rupee. Select a day to read it.
Latest reading · 14 Oct 2026
₹200 a share
Down ₹11 on the day the price band was published: the first reading against a known price.
From ₹150 on 2 Oct to ₹200 on 14 Oct, up about 33% (derived). The high was ₹211 on 13 Oct. Select a day to read it.
Same day, four trackers · 14 Oct 2026
₹12 apart derived- IPO Watch₹200
- InvestorGain₹200
- BuyUnlistedShares₹207
- ipopremium₹212
Same market, same day, four figures: each tracker asks different dealers. IPO Watch (filled dot) is the series in the chart.
- GMP is unofficial and unregulated; it is not a SEBI-recognised measure. Readings to 14 Oct 2026. Readings before 14 Oct were quoted against an expected price, not a published one.
- It is a measurement of an unofficial market, not a forecast.
On 14 Oct the premium was about 18% of the top of the price band (derived). The RHP's cover page says the issue price is not a guide to the market price after listing, and gives no assurance on the post-listing price.
Chapter08What the price asksAnchor investors are large institutions that agree to buy shares just before the issue opens and then cannot sell for a set time. A big anchor book shows that large funds wanted the shares at this price. So far, all that is known is one press report of their demand and the funds it names. The exchanges publish the actual anchor allocation, and this edition was written before it.
The anchor book: what is reported, and what is not
Anchor bidding Mon 19 Oct 2026 · data as of 14 Oct 2026
Anchors are large institutions that agree to buy before the issue opens and cannot sell for a set time. What is known before the issue is one press report of their demand and the funds it names; the exchange's anchor allocation is the record.
- Reported: bids above US$20 billionFrom Bloomberg, via BusinessToday. The company has not confirmed this and it rests on a single underlying source.
- How the anchor portion is splitUp to 60% of the institutions' (QIB) portion can go to anchors, about ₹8,164 crore at the cap (derived). Of that, a third (33.33%) is reserved for domestic mutual funds and 6.67% for life insurers and pension funds.
- Not yet in this editionAnchor allocation of 19 Oct not captured in this edition (data as of 14 Oct 2026).
Named as interested, abroad
Fidelity
Allianz
Capital Group
Indian mutual funds named
SBI Mutual Fund
Nippon India MF
ICICI Prudential MF
HDFC Mutual Fund
Kotak Mutual Fund
When anchors may first sell their shares is set out with every other lock-in.
Chapter04Who owns Jio, before and afterNineteen banks run and sell this issue. The RHP must print how every IPO each of them ran in the last year traded after listing, and that record is a useful check on early excitement: green squares traded above the issue price, red ones below it. Four of them are also lenders whose loans are being repaid from the money raised, so they are not neutral voices on this issue.
Nineteen banks run the issue, and four are also its lenders
Each bank's IPOs that listed in FY2025-26, by where they traded against the issue price after listing
These are the banks hired to run and sell the issue. Each square is one IPO a bank ran that listed in FY2025-26, as printed in the bank's track-record table in the RHP: red if it traded below its issue price on the 30th (or 180th) calendar day after listing, green if above, darker the further away. A marked bank is itself, or through its group, among the lenders whose loans are being repaid from the money raised. Select a bank to read its record.
- Below issue price deeper = further below
- Above
- Lendera lender being repaid, itself or through its group
15 of 19 banks, 5 or more IPOs each · FY2025-26 · day 30
14% to 50% of each bank's IPOs below the issue price, derived
Among the 15 banks that ran 5 or more, the lowest share was Goldman Sachs (14% of 7) and the highest ICICI Securities (50% of 22). Every bank had at least one below. Select a bank to read its record.
IIFL Capital11 of 29 below
JM Financial12 of 27 below
Axis Capital7 of 25 below
ICICI Securities11 of 22 below
Kotak Mahindra Capital6 of 19 below
SBI Capital MarketsLender7 of 15 below
Citigroup3 of 13 below
DAM Capital4 of 11 below
Morgan Stanley3 of 10 below
J.P. Morgan4 of 10 below
HSBC3 of 9 below
Goldman Sachs1 of 7 below
Jefferies2 of 7 below
BNP ParibasLender2 of 6 below
HDFC BankLender1 of 5 below
BofA SecuritiesLender1 of 4 below
CLSA1 of 3 below
UBS1 of 3 below
360 ONE WAM1 of 1 below
- One IPO usually has several of these banks, so rows are not added up. A past record, not a forecast for this issue.
- A strong anchor book is not a listing guarantee.
- No subscribe or avoid notes are out yet; when they arrive, notes from the research arms of the 19 lead managers will be shown and labelled as conflicted, never counted.
What this means
The grey market is a mood, not a price
It is unofficial and unregulated, and the trackers do not agree with each other. It shows how keen traders are this week. It says nothing about what the business earns or is worth.
Anchor demand is reported, not confirmed
The large anchor figure comes from one press report, and the company has not confirmed it. The anchor allocation the exchanges publish is the record to check.
Early demand has not stopped falls
Every bank on this issue ran IPOs last year that traded below their issue price a month after listing. A busy grey market or a strong anchor book does not fix the price after listing.
Some voices here are not neutral
Several of the banks selling the issue are also being repaid from it. When broker notes arrive, notes from the research arms of the 19 lead managers will be shown and labelled as conflicted, never counted.
How to apply
There are five ways for a person to bid in this issue. Which one is yours depends on how much you bid, and on whether you hold Reliance shares or work in the group. Each way has its own rules on price, on changing a bid and on how shares are shared out. This chapter shows where your bid falls, what a full book does to your chances, and the two days on which you have to act.
The size of your bid decides your category. Up to ₹2 lakh you are a retail bidder; above it you are a non-institutional investor (NII), split at ₹10 lakh into a small and a big window. The line matters because retail bids can use the cut-off price and can be changed or withdrawn until the issue closes. NII bids cannot use the cut-off price, and once placed they cannot be withdrawn or lowered.
Five ways to bid, set by how much you put in
Bid amount at the cap on a log scale · dashed lines are the ₹2 lakh and ₹10 lakh category limits · drag the slider or select a row
Each row is one way a person can bid. The coloured bar runs from the smallest to the largest bid allowed in that window; the purple bar has no upper limit. The slider places your bid as an ink line across every row; the rows it crosses are the windows that bid fits. Select a row to read its allotment rule.
10 lots · ₹1,34,280 at the cap
Fits Retail; also open to you if eligible: RIL holder and Employeederived
RIL holder- Institutions (QIB) take up to half the net issue, part of it through anchor investors before the issue opens. That window is not open to individuals.
The two reserved quotas sit outside the net issue. An eligible RIL shareholder or employee can bid there and in the retail or NII window as well, and the RHP says these are not treated as multiple bids. Outside that, it allows one application per UPI ID and per bank account.
In retail, the first aim of the allotment is one lot for as many applicants as possible. When there are more applicants than lots, a draw decides who gets one. So your chance is roughly one in the number of times the retail portion is subscribed, and bidding more lots does not improve it.
Your allotment odds
Retail applicants who get a lot, by how many times the retail portion is subscribed
Move the slider to the number of times the retail portion is subscribed. Each retail applicant can get at most one minimum lot first, subject to the shares available; if applicants outnumber the lots, a draw decides who gets one. So the odds are roughly one in the number of times subscribed.
10x
About 1 in 10 retail applicants gets a lot
- Applications, one lot each
- about 7,09,00,000
- Applicants who get a lot
- about 70,93,387
Each dot is one applicant in a hundred. Filled dots get one lot.
- An estimate that assumes every applicant bids one lot; not a registrar figure. Retail lots = the retail portion ÷ one lot at the cap derived
The subscription figure is only known as bids come in, so the slider is a way to read that number on closing day, not a forecast of it.
Most of the timetable runs without you. Two days need you: the day you place your bid, and the closing day, when the UPI mandate has to be approved in your app. Between bidding and allotment the money stays blocked in your bank account. It is not spent, but you cannot use it until it is unblocked or the shares arrive.
Two dates need you; the rest happen to you
The indicative timetable, anchor day to the first day of trading
- Listing-day view, signed 21 Oct 2026: the analyst expects a listing gain of about 20% over the issue price (analyst expectation, not assured). It is written separately from the rating, Subscribe for the long term.
What this means
Your bid size picks your rules
₹2 lakh is the line between retail and NII. Below it you can bid at the cut-off price and withdraw your bid until the close. Above it you name a price, and you cannot withdraw or lower the bid.
In retail, one lot is the realistic aim
If the retail book is oversubscribed, a draw hands out one lot each. A bigger retail bid does not raise your chance of getting it.
RIL holders and employees have a second door
The reserved quotas are separate from retail and NII, and a bid there does not count as a multiple bid. RIL holders must have held the shares on the date of the RHP; employees bid at a discount.
The mandate is the step people miss
A UPI bid only counts once you approve the mandate in your app before the closing-day cut-off. If you revise a bid, the new mandate needs approval too.
Where every number comes from
This chapter shows where the report's numbers come from. Almost all of them come from the company's own Red Herring Prospectus, the offer document it filed before the issue. A few other sources fill the gaps, and we lean on each one less the further it sits from the company. Where we worked a number out ourselves, it is marked derived. Where no document gives an answer, we say so instead of guessing.
The map below lays the prospectus out page by page and marks the parts this report reads. Beside it are the seven other sources, from the one closest to the company to the one furthest away.
Where the figures come from: the prospectus first
The parts of the Red Herring Prospectus this report reads, placed on its pages, then the other sources
Each row is one part of the prospectus. Its bar sits on the pages that part covers, from the cover to the last page. Select a row to read its pages and what this report takes from it; arrow keys move between rows and Escape clears. On the right, the other sources, from closest to the company to furthest.
The seven other sources
Quarterly results Q1 FY25 – Q1 FY27Primary
RIL quarterly results releases (ril.com) · Jul 2024 – Jul 2026
Industry sizes, forecasts, peer KPIsCommissioned
Analysys Mason report of 7 Oct 2026, commissioned by the issuer, as reproduced in the RHP · 30 Jun 2026
Price band, lot, employee discountReported
RIL stock-exchange filing of 14 Oct 2026, as reported by PTI, Outlook Money and TradingView · 14 Oct 2026
Bharti Airtel price and market capReported
NSE close of 14 Oct 2026 via Business Standard, Dhan, INDmoney · 14 Oct 2026
Customers and ARPU FY18 – FY23Secondary
Press reports of company results (TelecomTalk, Business Standard, LightReading) · various
GMP, broker value estimates, anchor demandUnofficial / reported
IPO Watch, InvestorGain, ipopremium, BuyUnlistedShares; broker estimates as reported by BusinessToday (citing Bloomberg), IndMoney, Outlook Business, Business Standard and CNBC · to 14 Oct 2026
Promoter and MD photographsLicensed
Wikimedia Commons (World Economic Forum 2007, CC BY-SA 2.0; PMO India 2023, GODL) · No date
Why this matters: a figure from the prospectus is the company's own statement in its offer document. The industry report was paid for by the company, so its market figures are useful but not independent. Grey-market prices and broker value estimates are unofficial; this report passes them on as reported, not as its own view.
Some numbers in this report are not printed in any document. We work them out from prospectus figures, and the next exhibit lists each formula so you can check the working yourself.
Our formulas, and where the documents stop
The formula behind each of our own estimates (the inputs are prospectus figures, shown in the chapter that owns each one), and five things no document gives
Seven formulas derived
Market cap = post-issue shares × price, where post-issue shares = pre-issue shares + fresh shares
Enterprise value (EV) = market cap + net debt + deferred spectrum dues + lease liabilities − gross issue proceeds
P/E = market cap ÷ FY26 profit after tax, on the post-issue share count (a second reading uses pre-issue earnings per share)
Post-issue stake = pre-issue stake × pre-issue shares ÷ post-issue shares
Investor multiple = upper end of the price band ÷ the price each investor paid in 2020
Airtel EV/EBITDA = (Airtel market cap + its reported net debt, which counts its spectrum dues and leases) ÷ Airtel's FY26 EBITDA
Retail allotment odds ≈ minimum lots in the retail portion ÷ retail applications, which is about 1 ÷ the times the retail portion is subscribed when most bid one lot
Not in the documents
Revenue by product. The company reports one segment.
The final general-corporate-purposes amount and issue expenses. Blank in the RHP.
Payments to Summit Digitel and Jio Digital Fibre. Not separately disclosed.
Competitor spectrum-auction spend. Not in the RHP.
The Q2 FY27 results. Not available before the issue closes.
The list on the right matters as much as the formulas. It names things an applicant may want to know, such as how much each product earns, that the documents do not give. Any figure you meet elsewhere for these is someone's estimate, not a disclosed number.
This report was first drafted from the earlier draft prospectus (the DRHP). The note below lists the figures that changed once the Red Herring Prospectus was filed, and the chapter that now carries each one.
What changed from the DRHP draftFirst-draft values, replaced after reading the RHP
- 42 risk factorsThe DRHP count; the RHP lists moreChapter 09, Risks
- 28,163 employees · 60,170 contractThe 31 Mar 2026 headcount, updated to 30 Jun 2026Chapter 02, Business
- Spectrum life 16.0 yearsStill printed in the RHP's industry overview; its business chapter gives the 30 Jun 2026 figureChapter 02, Business
- Lock-in: promoter 18 months, others 6 monthsCorrected to the RHP's lock-in termsChapter 04, Owners
- 6,817 patents filedUpdated to the RHP's applications and grantsChapter 02, Business
- EV/EBITDA 15.0x on March net debtRecomputed on June 2026 net debtChapter 08, Valuation
- Wireless broadband share 49.95%Updated to 30 Jun 2026Chapter 06, Industry
- Employee bid cap and dual-bid rule unverifiedConfirmed in the RHPChapter 11, Apply
After listing on 28 October this page adds the listing price against the frozen grey-market reading, the return for an allottee and for a day-one buyer, each lock-in expiry with the supply it releases, and our own call scored against the outcome.
Questions people ask
These are the questions people ask most about this issue: the price band, who is selling, where the money goes, how it compares with Bharti Airtel, and what happens after listing.
Each answer is kept short and uses the figures in the company's offer document. If one answer matters to your decision, open the chapter named under it. That chapter shows the full working and the risks around it.
8 questions
The issue
The company and the price
Applying and after listing
Where each answer is explained
The 8 answers point to 6 chapters; Chapters 4 and 11 answer more than one each.
- 01Chapter 01, The whole case on one page
- 03Chapter 03, The promoter, the board and the people who run it
- 06Chapter 06, A four-player market with pricing power
- 07Chapter 07, Growing, profitable, and now cash generative
- 09Chapter 09, Seven risks that matter
- 12Chapter 12, Where every number comes from
- 13Chapter 13, this chapter
- 14Chapter 14, Disclosures
Chapter 11 · How to apply answers questions 1 and 6.
The issue
The price band is ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 per share with a lot of 12 shares, so one lot costs ₹13,428 at the cap. The issue is a 100% fresh issue of 27 crore shares worth ₹30,213 crore at the cap, open from 21 to 23 October 2026, with listing expected on or about 28 October.
The issue
No. There is no offer for sale. Reliance Industries, Meta, Google and the 2020 investors keep every share and are diluted by 2.93%. No Jio Platforms share has changed hands in the last three years, so the RHP has no recent transaction price to compare the band against.
The issue
₹27,500 crore prepays three foreign-currency term loans of Reliance Jio Infocomm that total ₹29,917 crore, carry 1.40–5.13% interest and mature in 2028. The rest, capped at 25% of proceeds, is for general corporate purposes and issue expenses. The ₹1,04,514 crore of spectrum dues to the government are not repaid from the IPO.
The company and the price
No. JioStar (JioHotstar) is a Reliance Industries media company and Jio Financial Services is separately listed. Jio Platforms is the telecom and digital business: Reliance Jio Infocomm plus subsidiaries such as JioSaavn, Haptik, Embibe, Radisys and the satellite joint venture with SES.
The company and the price
At ₹1,119 the issue asks 34.3 times FY26 profit and 14.8 times FY26 EBITDA including spectrum dues and leases. The RHP puts Bharti Airtel at 40.7 times earnings on the 13 October close; our estimate of Airtel's EV/EBITDA is about 10.6 times. Jio is cheaper on earnings and dearer on operating cash profit.
Applying and after listing
No. Eligibility is fixed on the RHP date, 14 October 2026. Individuals and HUFs who held RIL shares on that date can bid up to ₹2 lakh in the ₹2,500 crore reserved portion and can also bid in the retail or NII category.
Applying and after listing
Half the anchor shares from about 25 November 2026 and the rest from about 24 January 2027. Meta, Google and the other pre-IPO holders are locked for six months from allotment, so from about late April 2027. The promoter's 20% contribution is locked for three years and the rest of its stake for one year.
Applying and after listing
No. The grey market premium is an unofficial, unregulated indicator and not a SEBI-recognised measure. On 14 October 2026 four trackers quoted it about ₹12 apart (our arithmetic). It is reported here as a mood reading, not a forecast.
GMP is not a SEBI-recognised measure.
Five of the eight answers lead back to the chapters on the issue, the owners and applying: the mechanics of the IPO. The chapters on the numbers and the risks (Chapters 7 and 9) answer none of these questions, yet they speak to the harder one: whether the business is worth the price. A short answer here does not replace them.
Disclosures
This chapter is the report's one disclosure. It says who wrote the report, what the analyst holds in the company or has been paid by it, how a rating would be given, and where to go if you have a complaint. It applies to every chapter above, so read it before you lean on any of them.
The track at the top of the panel below shows where this edition stands. The facts and figures are final for this edition, and the analyst signed its rating on 21 October 2026. The two columns below hold the fixed wording that SEBI asks a research analyst to publish, kept word for word.
Status of this edition
Rating: Subscribe for the long term
Signed by the research analyst on 21 October 2026. Expected listing gain: about 20% over the issue price (analyst expectation, not assured). Third-party valuations and the grey-market premium are reported as facts, attributed, and are not our views.
Where this edition standsEdition 3.0
- Data as of14 October 2026
- Published15 October 2026
- Sign-off21 October 2026
- RatingSubscribe for the long term
Rating · nowExpected listing gain: about 20% over the issue price (analyst expectation, not assured). On the rating scale below: Subscribe, long term (over 2 years).
Research entity
Who is responsible for this report, and how to reach them.
INVESTOLOGY
Rohit Singh · SEBI Registered Research Analyst, INH000015297
- Compliance contact
- Neelima Pillai
- Address
- VO 872, WeWork NESCO IT Park, 10th Floor, Building 4, Western Express Highway, Goregaon (East), Mumbai, Maharashtra 400063
Analyst certification
The analyst's promise that the views are their own and that pay does not depend on them.
The views expressed accurately reflect the analyst's own views about the subject securities. No part of compensation was, is, or will be directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendation or views in this report.
Grievances
Write to us first. If the answer does not settle it, you can raise it with SEBI on SCORES, and after that on the online dispute portal.
Disclosure of interest
What the analyst owns in the company, has applied for in this issue, or has been paid by it. A conflict of interest would show up here.
- Position in the subject company
- None. The analyst, Investology and associates hold no shares or financial interest in Jio Platforms or Reliance Industries
- Applied to the issue
- To be declared
- Compensation from the subject company in the past twelve months
- None
- Compensation from the company's group or the issue's lead managers
- None
- Role in the issue
- None
- Officer, director or employee of the subject company
- No
Rating scale
The six labels a signed edition can carry. This edition carries the second: Subscribe, long term.
- Subscribe
- Subscribe, long term (over 2 years)
- Subscribe, listing gain only
- Neutral
- Avoid
- Unrated
Every rating carries a horizon and a conviction level.
Market risk
The standard warning: prices can fall, and a SEBI registration is not a promise of returns.
Investments in securities market are subject to market risks. Read all the related documents carefully before investing. Registration granted by SEBI and certification from NISM in no way guarantee performance of the intermediary or provide any assurance of returns.
Written by
Rohit Singh
Mr. Chartist · SEBI Registered Research Analyst, INH000015297
With 14+ years of experience in Indian financial markets, Rohit Singh (Mr. Chartist) is a SEBI Registered Research Analyst, Amazon #1 bestselling author, and the founder of Investology: a premium trading ecosystem trusted by a 1.5 Lakh+ strong community across India.
Full bio