Ambani’s Jio surges 21% in Mumbai debut after record US$3.2 billion India IPO

MUMBAI: Jio Platforms shares soared 21 per cent in their Mumbai debut on Wednesday (Oct 28), giving India’s biggest-ever initial public offering a roaring start and Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries its first listing in two decades.

With the listing, Jio, whose telecoms business serves more than 530 million customers, has become one of India’s biggest companies by market capitalisation. Ambani’s digital and telecoms unit is backed by Meta Platforms and Alphabet’s Google.

The stock opened at 1,358 rupees (US$14.27) a share, compared with its 1,119-rupee offer price.

The listing furthers Ambani’s plan to turn Jio’s parent Reliance Industries from an oil-and-chemicals conglomerate into an “everything company” spanning consumer and technology.

The listing ceremony for Jio was attended by Mukesh Ambani, Akash Ambani, his eldest son, who is Jio’s managing director, and his wife Nita Ambani. Ambani’s other children Isha and Anant Ambani also attended.

An emotional Mukesh Ambani was seen in tears as Anant traced Reliance’s and Jio’s legacies and journey in a speech at the ceremony.

A BUSY IPO MARKET

Major Indian newspapers on Wednesday carried front-page ads from Reliance Jio, saying “Thank you, India”.

Ahead of the listing, the premium for Jio shares in the grey market – an unregulated market that allows investors to trade in unlisted shares – indicated gains of about 22 per cent.

India has become the world’s busiest IPO market this year in terms of the number of deals, with 246 listings so far, though it ranked fourth by money raised at US$13.5 billion, behind the US, mainland China and Hong Kong, LSEG data showed.

Several brokerages called the US$108.3 billion valuation attractive, with some pointing to potential upside, though they flagged competition, heavy capital spending and changes in India’s telecom rules, including those related to spectrum, licensing and fees, as risks.