Jio Platforms is set to price its shares at ₹1,065 to ₹1,119, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. At the top of that band the company would be worth ₹10.31 lakh crore, or 34 times last year’s profit, by Kiwaro’s arithmetic.
The terms, as reported
The draft prospectus filed in June provides for up to 27 crore new shares, about 2.93% of the equity after the issue. That raises ₹28,755 crore at the bottom of the band and ₹30,213 crore at the top. The anchor book is scheduled to open on 19 October and public subscription on 21 October, closing two days later; the shares are expected to trade from 28 October. Final offer documents are expected in the week starting 12 October, Mint reported, citing the Press Trust of India.
Earlier in the week market talk had put the range at about ₹1,300 to ₹1,450, Mint reported on 7 October. The company had been poised to seek about ₹11 lakh crore, The Economic Times reported.
The arithmetic
About 921.5 crore shares after the issue.
₹9.81 lakh crore at the bottom of the band, ₹10.31 lakh crore at the top: 6.3% below the ₹11 lakh crore sought earlier.
32.7 to 34.3 times the ₹30,053 crore Jio Platforms earned after tax in the year to March 2026. The draft gives 42.27 for Bharti Airtel and 4.65 for Vodafone Idea, Mint reported.
Reliance Industries, which held about 66.4% at the draft filing, would hold 64.5% if it neither buys nor sells. Meta’s Jaadhu Holdings held 9.98% and Google International 7.73%, ET Now reported from the offer documents.
Where the money goes
About ₹27,500 crore is to repay or prepay borrowings of Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom operator inside Jio Platforms, according to the draft papers as Mint describes them. That is 91% of the proceeds at the top of the band. It leaves ₹2,713 crore for general purposes at the top and ₹1,255 crore at the bottom.
The rivals
Jio had 508.4 million wireless subscribers at the end of August, 38.7% of India’s 1,312.3 million, the telecom regulator’s figures show. Bharti Airtel had 491.6 million, or 37.5%, and Vodafone Idea 199.6 million, or 15.2%. In August Jio added 2.40 million, Airtel 2.11 million and Vodafone Idea 0.51 million.
The two listed rivals carry more debt than Jio plans to retire. Bharti Airtel’s borrowings were ₹1,21,671 crore at March 2026 and its finance costs ₹21,555 crore for the year. Vodafone Idea’s were ₹1,49,455 crore and ₹21,495 crore. The ₹27,500 crore Jio’s operator plans to repay equals 22.6% of what Bharti Airtel owes and 18.4% of what Vodafone Idea owes.
The week it lands in
Subscription opens five days after banks’ daily cash floor at the Reserve Bank of India rises to 99% on 16 October. The sum called for, ₹30,213 crore at the top, is 3.7 times the ₹8,172 crore by which banks together may fall short of their reserve on any one day. How much of an offer’s money moves between banks before allotment we have not measured.
Our view
Kiwaro’s view is that this is a refinancing with a listing attached. Nine-tenths of the money goes to lenders, the public gets 2.93% of the company, and Reliance keeps 64.5%. What the sale changes first is Jio Infocomm’s debt, not who controls Jio. And the price asked is below the multiple the draft gives for Bharti Airtel, which added 2.11 million subscribers in August to Jio’s 2.40 million.
Data note: offer terms as reported by Bloomberg, The Economic Times, ET Now and Mint from people familiar with the plan and from the draft prospectus, which is not in our store; values, multiples and diluted stakes are Kiwaro’s arithmetic on those terms; subscribers from the telecom regulator; borrowings and finance costs from annual accounts to March 2026.
Institutional perspective: none of this is an offer term until the registered prospectus says so. It is expected in the week starting 12 October.
