Jio Platforms Opens 25% Above IPO Price at $137 Billion Valuation

Jio Platforms began trading in India on Oct. 28 at more than 25% above its IPO price, giving the telecom and digital services company a $137.1 billion market capitalization.

The debut made Jio India’s second-most valuable company, behind Reliance Industries. Reliance held more than 64% of Jio after the offering. Shares opened 3.3% higher in India on Thursday, Oct. 29, the next trading day.

Backed by Meta and Google, Jio is India’s largest telecom operator and a digital services company. Jio Platforms is the parent of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, its telecom subsidiary.

Before the listing, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani became emotional as his three children recounted Jio’s development. They pledged to create value for investors over the next 50 years.

Jio Managing Director Akash Ambani identified artificial intelligence, cloud, connected devices and connectivity from space as areas for growth. He said the company would “democratize every technology that can transform Indian lives” over the next decade.

Anurag Singh, founder and managing partner of U.S.-based Ansid Capital, said Jio reduced debt with about 3% share dilution. Analysts also cautioned that much of Jio’s value had already been priced in after the listing gain.

Vaqarjaved Khan, a senior analyst at Indian brokerage Angel One, said Jio’s price-to-earnings ratio of 34 times indicated that much of its “quality” was already reflected in the valuation. Khan cited more than half a billion customers, operating margins of 52% and net leverage of 0.36 times as measures of the company’s scale. He said future returns would depend on average revenue per user and AI services.