Jio is set to enter a competitive market with its IPO, which marks Reliance's first offering since 2006. Unlike the 1977 issue where investors held paper certificates, modern bidders use UPI and demat accounts. Money stays in bank accounts until allotment, making the process much faster for many individual investors.
Synopsis
Jio is set to enter a competitive market with its IPO, which marks Reliance's first offering since 2006. The shift from physical share certificates to demat accounts has greatly streamlined investor experiences over the years. Investors will benefit from reforms that include blocked amounts and faster listing times. The proposed IPO will cater to a considerably larger base of individual investors than previous offerings.
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In April 2006, retail investors in Reliance Petroleum's IPO paid Rupees 16 a share with their applications, according to Plastemart. The book was subscribed 51.22 times, according to data compiled by Chittorgarh, so most of that cash went back to applicants who received few or no shares. Between application and refund, the capital was simply locked up.
Bidders in Jio's IPO will not part with money upfront. The bid amount stays blocked in their bank account and is debited only on allotment, and for individual bids of up to Rupees 5 lakh the mandate is approved with a UPI PIN. Shares are due to list three working days after the issue closes.
That shift in where investor money sits is one of four reforms, alongside dematerialisation, UPI payments and T+3 listing, that rebuilt India's primary-market infrastructure between Reliance's first public issue in 1977 and Jio's.
1977: Rupees 10 a share, 58,000 shareholders
Reliance Textile Industries raised about Rupees 2.8 crore in its 1977 public issue, selling shares at Rupees 10 each, according to the Jio Institute archive. The issue was oversubscribed seven times, and the company ended its first year as a listed firm with 58,000 shareholders. Those shareholders owned the paper. A share was a printed certificate, and proving ownership meant producing it.
1996: dematerialisation
That began to change in November 1996, when NSDL, India's first depository, started operations, according to NSDL's statistics. Shares could now be held as electronic entries in a demat account instead of certificates in a drawer.
2006: Reliance Petroleum's Rs 2,700 crore book
Reliance Petroleum's IPO, open from 13 to 20 April 2006, offered 45 crore shares to the public at Rs 60 each, worth Rs 2,700 crore. It drew 21,08,279 applications and was subscribed 51.22 times, according to data compiled by Chittorgarh1. The retail portion alone was subscribed 14.91 times, as per Capitalmind2.
Money still left investors' accounts at the application stage. Retail investors paid Rs 16 a share upfront, and RIL took 90 crore shares itself, according to Plastemart3.
2008–2023: ASBA, UPI and T+3
Sebi introduced ASBA, or Application Supported by Blocked Amount, from 1 September 2008, according to a Union Bank of India explainer3. Under ASBA, the bid amount stays in the investor's bank account, blocked, and is debited only if shares are allotted3.
The investor base was still small by today's measure. In November 2016, two months after Jio's launch, NSDL and CDSL together held 2.69 crore investor accounts, as PTI reported4.
The phone entered the process three years later. UPI became a payment route for retail IPO bids, with the first phase starting on 1 January 2019, according to law firm Khaitan & Co5. The UPI bid limit was raised from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for issues opening from 1 May 2022, as per Union Bank of India3.
The wait for listing shrank too. The gap between an issue closing and its shares listing was cut from six working days to three, mandatory from 1 December 2023, as Business Standard reported6.
Not every Reliance listing in these years came through an IPO. Jio Financial Services listed on 21 August 2023 through a one-for-one demerger from RIL, as Business Standard reported7.
2026: Jio's turn
CDSL held 18.59 crore demat accounts on 30 June 2026, according to CDSL data8, and NSDL held 4.51 crore in May 2026, according to Outlook Money9. Together, that is more than 23 crore accounts, more than eight times the 2016 figure. Because one investor can hold more than one account, the total overstates the number of individual investors.
The market Jio enters is crowded. According to the Free Press Journal, 96 IPOs have raised over Rs 1.1 lakh crore in 2026 so far, 35 of them in September alone.
Jio's offer is the group's first IPO since Reliance Petroleum in 2006. As per the draft red herring prospectus, a portion of the issue is reserved for individual shareholders of RIL, which links the newest Reliance offer to a shareholder register that held 58,000 names at the end of 1977. The issue's dates and price band have not been announced.
Whenever it opens, one thing is already settled. The Rs 10 certificates of 1977 have long since been converted into demat entries. Jio's shares will never exist on paper at all.
Reference/s:
https://www.chittorgarh.com/ipo_subscription/reliance-petroleum-ipo/2918/
https://premium.capitalmind.in/2006/04/reliance-petroleum-oversubscribed/
https://www.unionbankofindia.bank.in/en/listing/asba-applications
https://www.business-standard.com/markets/news/sebi-reduces-timeline-for-listing-shares-to-t-3-from-t-6-from-december-1-123080900726_1.html
https://www.khaitanco.com/sites/default/files/2019-09/ROADMAP%20TO%20A%20SHORTER%20LISTING%20PERIOD.pdf
https://www.business-standard.com/markets/news/shorter-ipo-timeline-to-become-effective-from-december-1-says-sebi-123080900620_1.html
https://www.business-standard.com/amp/markets/news/jio-financial-services-set-to-be-listed-on-stock-exchanges-on-monday-123081800621_1.html
https://nsearchives.nseindia.com/corporate/CDSL_01082026133248_NSEIntimation_PressRelease.pdf
https://www.outlookmoney.com/invest/nsdl-adds-59-lakh-demat-accounts-in-fy26-records-highest-ever-annual-expansion