No. 2 on Day 1: How Jio Platforms broke India’s market cap hierarchy on debut itself

Jio Platforms Ltd. vaulted into the ranks of India’s biggest listed companies on its first trading day, taking the No. 2 spot by market capitalisation after a 21.3% premium listing that immediately placed it above Bharti Airtel.

The stock opened at ₹1,358 on the BSE, compared with its IPO price of ₹1,119, giving Jio Platforms a market value of about ₹12.5 lakh crore. That puts it ahead of Airtel’s roughly ₹12.1 lakh crore and behind only Reliance Industries Ltd., whose market capitalisation stands at around ₹15.95 lakh crore.

Catch all the Jio IPO listing day action live here

The debut represents the strongest opening by a newly listed Indian company in terms of market capitalisation, according to the information provided for the listing. Jio Platforms also becomes India’s largest listed telecom company.

The ranking places Jio ahead of several of the country’s largest listed businesses, including Tata Consultancy Services, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finance, Larsen & Toubro and Life Insurance Corporation of India.

The market cap milestone caps a record-breaking IPO. Jio Platforms raised around ₹30,200 crore through India’s largest public issue, attracting cumulative demand of more than ₹7 lakh crore across the anchor and public book-building processes.

The issue was fully subscribed within 100 minutes of opening, 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 issue attracted more than 1.38 crore applications, including those from retail and first-time investors.

Jio Platforms’ IPO also set a global valuation milestone. The company 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. 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 is now being valued not only as a telecom company, but also as a broader digital infrastructure and services platform. Motilal Oswal said the company’s expansion into cloud, enterprise communications, the Internet of Things and managed services could provide the next leg of growth beyond connectivity.

Elara Securities also described affordable data as the foundation for Jio’s digital ecosystem. It said digital services currently account for about 12% of Jio Platforms’ revenue, but forecast digital-services revenue to grow at a compound annual rate of about 23% between fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2029, with EBITDA growth of about 36%.

The brokerage expects Jio’s home broadband subscriber base to rise from 27 million in fiscal 2026 to 66 million by fiscal 2029, representing growth of about 35% annually. AirFiber is expected to drive about 80% of incremental additions.

The valuation response from analysts was also positive on the first day of trading. Nomura initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a target price of ₹1,340, implying about 19.7% upside from the IPO price. Motilal Oswal initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a target price of ₹1,350, implying 21% upside. Elara Securities initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a target price of ₹1,367, implying 22% upside from the issue price.

The convergence of the three reports is significant because the analysts broadly identify the same drivers: tariff increases, subscriber additions, home broadband expansion, digital-services monetisation and a decline in capital expenditure intensity.

Nomura said Jio’s focus is shifting from adding users to increasing revenue from each customer. It 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 IPO comprises 27 crore fresh shares and has no offer-for-sale component, meaning existing investors are not selling shares into the issue. Jio Platforms plans to use ₹27,500 crore of the proceeds to repay or prepay borrowings, with the balance earmarked for general corporate purposes.

Following the listing, the Reliance Group has also become India’s largest listed business group by aggregate listed market capitalisation.

(Disclaimer: This article has been written by Nikhil Agarwal, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an Investment Adviser. Nikhil Agarwal and his/her ‘relative(s)’ (as defined under Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013) do not hold any financial interest in the companies mentioned in this article as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of The Economic Times Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment. Brokerage disclaimers here