Jio Platforms IPO likely to open in October, potentially India's biggest public issue

Jio's regulatory process is largely complete, with investor meetings drawing encouraging interest from foreign and domestic institutions ahead of pricing

Jio Platforms, the Reliance Industries subsidiary that owns India's largest mobile network, is preparing to launch its much-anticipated initial public offering in the third week of this month.

Internal preparations for the IPO, potentially the biggest in the Indian market, are nearly complete, and the Jio team is understood to have received a positive response to the issue, sources told Moneycontrol.

The IPO is likely to open for public subscription from October 21 to 23, with the anchor book likely to open on October 19 and the shares targeted to debut on the stock exchanges on October 28, subject to market conditions.

"Jio is fairly close to launching its IPO, although market conditions and global developments will play a role in its timing," a source cited by Moneycontrol said. "The regulatory process with Sebi is largely complete, with all necessary approvals in place."

Jio held investor meetings with foreign institutional investors (FIIs), whose response has been encouraging. Domestic investor interest has also been strong, people familiar with the matter said.

"The market situation is being monitored closely on a daily basis," said the second person, referring to recent volatility in the stock market. Investors said market fluctuations should not materially affect their appetite for the shares.

National Stock Exchange (NSE), which launched India's third largest IPO in September, witnessed oversubscription, even though response from the retail segment was lukewarm.

The NSE stock is now hovering well below the issue price of ₹1,785, erasing the entire post-listing gains.

Jio will be the first IPO from Reliance after Mukesh Ambani and his brother Anil split the business in 2006.

Jio Platforms filed its draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in June. Sebi issued its final observations on August 28, clearing the way for the IPO.

The public offer, which will comprise entirely of a fresh issue of shares, will primarily be used to repay or prepay, in whole or in part, about ₹27,500 crore of outstanding borrowings of Reliance Jio Infocomm, a unit of Jio Platforms. The remaining proceeds are earmarked for general corporate purposes.

The IPO's final pricing and valuation have not yet been determined. A decision on pricing would be taken in the coming week, considering investor feedback and market conditions, the people added.