Jio Platforms shares surged 21.36% on their stock market debut, with the stock listing at ₹1,358 per share on both BSE and NSE. According to NDTV Profit, the stock touched a high of ₹1,375 and a low of ₹1,356.40 during early trade. The company has become India's second-most valuable listed company with a market value of ₹12.56 lakh crore, surpassing Bharti Airtel which was valued at ₹12.11 lakh crore with its shares down 1.82% at ₹1,941.95. The debut represents the strongest opening by a newly listed Indian company in terms of market capitalisation, with the listing creating a sharp contrast between Jio's market position and its operating history. The company's material subsidiary, Reliance Jio, has grown into India's largest wireless operator with around 533 million subscribers as of June 2026, according to Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Jio Platforms' ₹30,213 crore IPO was oversubscribed 22.19 times, making it India's fastest-subscribed mega public issue. As reported by The Times of India, the issue attracted bids worth more than ₹7.4 lakh crore across the public issue and anchor investor placement, while applications approached 1.39 crore. The IPO was fully subscribed within 100 minutes of opening on October 21, 2026, while the ₹5,500 crore qualified institutional buyer portion was subscribed within the first 10 minutes. By the end of the third day, the IPO had been subscribed 22.2 times, with the QIB portion subscribed 70.55 times. Against the 27 crore shares offered, aggregate demand stood at 655.68 crore shares. The IPO attracted more than 1.39 crore applications, including those from retail and first-time investors. The offering was entirely a fresh issue of 27 crore shares and was priced at ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 per share. Ahead of the public issue, Jio Platforms raised about ₹8,110 crore from 212 anchor investors on October 19, allotting shares at ₹1,119 apiece, the upper end of the price band. Addressing the listing ceremony, Jio Platforms Chairman Akash Ambani noted that "the response surpassed our imagination, breaking records in every investor category. We were fully subscribed for India's largest IPO within 95 minutes of launch, the fastest ever India has seen."
According to The Times of India, Jio Platforms is set to become the fourth company globally, after businesses such as Meta, Alibaba and SpaceX, to achieve an equity valuation of more than $100 billion at the time of its IPO. At the offer price, Jio Platforms was valued at around ₹10.3 lakh crore, or approximately $109 billion. The 21.3% listing premium added about ₹2.2 lakh crore to its market value on the first day of trading. The listing also creates a sharp contrast between Jio's market position and its operating history, with the company now being valued not only as a telecom company, but also as a broader digital infrastructure and services platform. Motilal Oswal noted that the company's expansion into cloud, enterprise communications, the Internet of Things and managed services could provide the next leg of growth beyond connectivity. At current valuation levels, Jio Platforms trades at a premium to established peer Bharti Airtel Ltd.
The Reliance Group has emerged as India's most valuable business group with a combined market capitalisation of ₹29.92 lakh crore as of October 28, according to ET Now. Reliance Industries contributes ₹16.20 lakh crore, while Jio Platforms adds ₹12.50 lakh crore to the group's valuation. The Tata Group ranks second at ₹26 lakh crore, followed by the Adani Group at ₹16.48 lakh crore. For the first time in decades, neither the Tata Group nor the Adani Group had a company among India's five most valuable listed companies. The combined market valuation of both Jio Platforms and Reliance Industries is ₹28.40 lakh crore, reshuffling India's market-cap rankings with the top five now being Reliance Industries at ₹16.20 lakh crore, Jio Platforms at ₹12.50 lakh crore, Bharti Airtel at ₹12.11 lakh crore, HDFC Bank at ₹10.52 lakh crore, and ICICI Bank at ₹9.88 lakh crore. According to The Times of India, the top five companies by market capitalisation are: Reliance Industries at ₹15.91 lakh crore, Jio Platforms at ₹12.56 lakh crore, Bharti Airtel at ₹12.11 lakh crore, HDFC Bank at ₹10.52 lakh crore, and ICICI Bank at ₹9.88 lakh crore.
While Jio Platforms celebrated its market debut, Indian equities came under pressure on Wednesday as rising crude oil prices and caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy decision weighed on investor sentiment. The benchmark indices fell more than 1%, with the Sensex down 0.82% at 72,995.63. The IT sector declined around 3.3%, with the BSE Focused IT index down 2.73%. TCS shares tumbled 3.42% to ₹2,414.45*, cutting its market value to ₹8.76 lakh crore and pushing it out of the top five companies by market capitalisation. Infosys fell 4.74%, while HCL Technologies declined 2.44% and Wipro slipped 1.04%. State Bank of India rose 0.97% to ₹954.25, taking its market capitalisation to ₹8.81 lakh crore and moving ahead of TCS by a margin of under 1%. Oil prices climbed 1.4% to $115.40 a barrel after an attack on a refinery in Saudi Arabia, a major oil exporter, reviving concerns about potential supply disruptions and inflationary pressures. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited, noted that the market had turned decisively weak amid growing geopolitical and macroeconomic concerns. He cautioned that a sustained recovery in Indian equities would depend on two key developments: a decline in crude oil prices and a reversal in foreign portfolio investor selling.
For Jio, tariff increases, greater data consumption and the monetisation of 5G services will remain important factors for investors to track. According to Elara Securities, "Jio's focus is shifting from adding users to increasing revenue from each customer." The brokerage expects a roughly 15% industry-wide tariff increase in November-December 2026 and estimates Jio Platforms' EBITDA will grow at about 13.5% annually between fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2029. Motilal Oswal expects a tariff increase of about 15% from March 2027 and estimates that Jio Platforms' consolidated revenue, EBITDA and profit will grow at compound annual rates of 14%, 15% and 20% respectively between fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2029. The home broadband subscriber base is expected to rise from 27 million in fiscal 2026 to 66 million by fiscal 2029, representing growth of about 35% annually, with AirFiber expected to drive about 80% of incremental additions. At the listing ceremony, managing director Akash Ambani outlined plans to take the company beyond connectivity into areas including AI, cloud and connected devices, stating "In our first 10 years, we democratized data, bringing hundreds of millions into digital life. In the next 10, we want to democratize every technology that can transform Indian lives: AI, cloud, connected devices, connectivity even from space and digital services not yet imagined." He emphasized that "the responsibility of the next generation of Ambanis is not just to preserve what they have inherited, but to make Jio bigger, better and more meaningful for India."
