Same family, different fate: Why Jio Platforms isn’t RPower redux

The initial public offering of Jio Platforms set records on several fronts last week. It became the largest ever IPO in Indian market at ₹30,213 crore, surpassing outplacing Hyundai Motor India’s ₹27,806 crore | Photo Credit: FRANCIS MASCARENHAS

The initial public offering (IPO) of Jio Platforms set records on several fronts last week. It became the largest ever IPO in Indian market at ₹30,213 crore, surpassing Hyundai Motor India’s ₹27,806 crore. The shares listed at ₹1,358 on both the NSE and the BSE — a 21.36 per cent premium to the issue price of ₹1,119 — delivering the best listing gains among mega-IPOs. Only LG Electronics India, with an IPO of ₹11,607 crore, fared better, returning 50 per cent on debut.

With that listing, the company has entered the coveted $100-billion valuation club. It instantly became the second-most valuable company in the market, next only to its parent, Reliance Industries, and catapulted the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance group to the top spot among corporate groups, with a combined market capitalisation of roughly ₹30 lakh crore. This displaced the Tata group, valued at about ₹25 lakh crore.

The IPO was subscribed within an hour, attracting bids worth ₹7.4 lakh crore and a record 1.34 crore applications.

Similitude

For market observers, the parallel with the Reliance Power IPO was hard to miss: like the Jio Platforms offering, the RPower issue was the largest of its day. Reliance Power listed on February 11, 2008, after raising a record ₹11,563 crore in its mega IPO. The issue attracted bids exceeding ₹7 lakh crore and was subscribed over 72 times, making the listing one of the most anticipated in Indian market history. Even today, RPower has one of the largest shareholders’ base.

Moreover, both companies share the same promoter lineage — the Dhirubhai Ambani family — and operate in sectors seen as having significant growth potential.

However, the similarities largely end there.

RPower opened at ₹538, a 19 per cent premium to its IPO price, and for the first four minutes, appeared to be delivering the dream debut investors had anticipated. The stock then plunged to ₹355 and closed at ₹372.50, eroding billions of rupees in investor wealth in a single day. In the years since, the shares have never traded above their IPO price of ₹450. The brief post-listing high remains unscaled.

Key differences

Jio Platforms was priced reasonably, at roughly 33 times earnings, whereas RPower’s valuation premium — at over 11,250 times earnings — was staggering by comparison.

In an attempt to cushion investors against the stock’s sharp fall, RPower announced a 3:5 bonus issue for all shareholders except the promoter group soon after listing. It subsequently complained to the regulator about alleged market manipulation and ‘foul play’, but the regulator found no merit in the allegations.

Rather than projecting confidence, these responses were perceived by market participants as signs of panic, further eroding investor confidence in the company.

By contrast, the Reliance Industries management has maintained its composure despite the company’s stock barely moving over the past five years and declining more than 20 per cent in the past year. Jio Financial Services, too, has fallen over 30 per cent over the same period.

In fact, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently visited RIL’s Jamnagar mega refinery complex. Among the issues discussed with the company’s top management was the expansion of India’s — and RIL’s — imports of Venezuelan oil, now under US oversight.

Mukesh Ambani’s stature has risen further. Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, has taken on Ambani — whether out of fear or envy, depending on whom one asks — calling him the ‘real boss of India’ and suggesting that Jio was trying to thwart Starlink’s entry into the country.

Taken together, these developments suggest that Mukesh Ambani-led companies operate in a different league and are unlikely to meet the fate of Reliance Power.

Published on October 30, 2026