റിലയൻസ് ജിയോയുടെ വമ്പൻ ഐപിഒ: ആകാശ് അംബാനി അമേരിക്ക വിട്ട് ഇന്ത്യയിലേക്ക് മടങ്ങിയതിന് പിന്നിലെ രഹസ്യം!

Reliance Jio's record-breaking initial public offering (IPO) has prompted entrepreneur and investor Arjun Vaidya to recall a conversation from 2013, when his friend Akash Ambani decided to return to India after graduating from Brown University in the US to pursue what he described as an ambitious vision of building Jio.

In a video shared on Instagram, Vaidya recounted how Akash had spoken about bringing affordable, high-speed internet to Indians at a time when the idea appeared far-fetched. 13 years later, he said, that vision had culminated in India's biggest-ever IPO, attracting unprecedented investor interest.

Jio Platforms' ₹30,213-crore public issue closed on October 23 with subscriptions of 22.19 times the shares on offer. Total demand, including the anchor investor placement, crossed ₹7.4 lakh crore, while the number of applications approached 1.39 crore, according to stock exchange data.

Reflecting on his friend's journey, Vaidya said, "In 2013, Akash and I graduated from Brown and he left with the wildest dream I'd ever heard. Yesterday, that dream became India's biggest IPO ever."

Why did Akash Ambani return to India after graduating from Brown University?

Vaidya said that while many of their classmates chose to remain in the US and pursue careers in cities such as New York and San Francisco, Akash was among those who decided to return to India.

"When we graduated from Brown in 2013, almost all of our friends were staying back in the US, taking jobs in New York, San Francisco. But Akash was one of the few of us packing his bags and coming home, because his dad had given him a dream, which was to build Jio," he recalled.

According to Vaidya, Akash would frequently discuss his ambition of making 4G connectivity and high-speed internet accessible to people across India.

"He would sit with us and talk about 4G and data in every Indian's pocket, internet speed as fast as we had in college in the US," Vaidya said, adding that the idea seemed almost unbelievable in 2013 and 2014.

He also recalled watching the 2013 IPL final on an early prototype of what eventually became the JioTV app. The possibility of watching live cricket on a mobile phone had seemed extraordinary at the time, he said.

Who is Arjun Vaidya?

Arjun Vaidya, 35, is an Indian entrepreneur, venture capitalist and angel investor, best known for founding the direct-to-consumer (D2C) Ayurvedic wellness brand Dr. Vaidya's and co-founding V3 Ventures.

A graduate of Brown University, Vaidya completed his studies in 2013 before beginning his career in private equity with L Catterton, an investment firm focused on consumer businesses. He subsequently moved into entrepreneurship, drawing on his family's legacy in Ayurveda to establish Dr. Vaidya's in 2016.

Under his leadership, the company grew into a prominent online Ayurvedic brand, reaching more than two million customers and expanding its portfolio to over 80 products. In 2021, the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group acquired a majority stake in the business.

Vaidya later co-founded V3 Ventures, backed by Belgian investment group Verlinvest, to invest in early-stage consumer businesses. He is also an active angel investor and mentor to startups in India's consumer ecosystem.

Arjun Vaidya says Jio transformed India's startup ecosystem

Vaidya credited Jio's expansion with changing the way Indians access the internet and creating opportunities for businesses across sectors.

"Today, every single Indian just takes that for granted," he said, referring to the widespread availability of mobile internet.

He added that his own entrepreneurial journey and the businesses he had founded or invested in were closely connected to the digital ecosystem enabled by affordable data.

"The entire startup ecosystem, I would say, is a byproduct of the world Jio created," Vaidya said.

He also pointed to the growth of digital payments and direct-to-consumer businesses, noting that UPI processes 24 billion transactions a month and that consumers increasingly discover and purchase products through their phones.

Discussing the IPO's response, Vaidya highlighted that the qualified institutional buyers (QIB) portion was fully subscribed in less than 100 minutes. He described the strong participation as evidence of how widely Indians identify with Jio's growth story.

He also recalled Akash calling him late on the night the IPO opened to discuss what the development meant for the D2C industry and what lessons other businesses could draw from it.

Vaidya said his friend expressed hope that future IPOs would receive a similarly strong response from institutional investors on their opening day.

Concluding his video, Vaidya reflected on how returning to India, which appeared to be the riskier choice for graduates in 2013, has become an increasingly attractive option.

"13 years ago, coming back to India was the risky choice. Now everyone seems to be doing it," he said.