In today's FirstScroll, we unpack the Jio IPO, India's biggest-ever listing, and the one question every investor is quietly asking: is this a telecom stock or a tech stock?
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The Story
Cast your mind back to 2016. Long queues outside mobile stores. Free SIM cards. Unlimited calls. And data so cheap it felt like a typo.
That was Jio's grand entry. And it didn't just win customers. It rewired the country. Data prices crashed from about ₹225 per GB to roughly ₹10. Suddenly, everyone from your neighbourhood sabziwala to your grandmother was streaming, scrolling and paying online. Monthly data consumption per person jumped from less than 0.2 GB to over 42 GB.
Then came the plot twist of 2020. In the middle of a pandemic, global giants poured money into Jio Platforms. Google invested $4.5 billion for a 7.73% stake. KKR wrote its largest cheque in Asia. Meta, Silver Lake and a parade of sovereign funds joined in, taking the total to roughly $20 billion. Everyone knew what came next. An IPO. Someday.
Well, someday finally arrived. On June 19, 2026, Jio Platforms filed its DRHP with SEBI. That's the draft document every company must submit before going public, laying out its business, finances and risks for regulators and investors to scrutinize.
And the numbers? Staggering. The issue is expected to raise somewhere between ₹30,000 and ₹40,000 crores, making it the largest public issue in Indian history. To put that in perspective, the current record holder is Hyundai Motor India's ₹27,870 crore IPO from 2024. Jio could sail past that. And bankers are pegging its valuation anywhere between $133 billion and $180 billion, which would instantly make it one of India's most valuable listed companies on day one.
But here's the bit most headlines skipped. The structure of this IPO is where the real story hides.
You see, an IPO can work in two ways. One, existing shareholders sell their stake to the public. That's called an OFS or Offer for Sale, and the company itself doesn't see a rupee of that money. Two, the company creates brand-new shares and sells them. That's a fresh issue, where every rupee lands in the company's own bank account.
And Jio? It's a 100% fresh issue of up to 27 crore shares, roughly just 2.9% of the company, with zero OFS. Which is fascinating, because the original plan was for Meta, Google, KKR and the sovereign funds, who together hold about 33%, to trim their stakes. That plan was scrapped in May after a valuation disagreement. Translation? The early investors didn't want to sell at the price on offer. They'd rather wait.
So what does Jio want the money for, you ask?
Debt, mostly. ₹27,500 crores of the proceeds will go toward prepaying foreign currency loans taken by Reliance Jio Infocomm, its telecom subsidiary. And considering Jio's total outstanding borrowings stood at roughly ₹30,057 crores as of March 2026, this IPO could wipe out most of that debt in one shot. That frees up cash which currently goes into interest payments, and redirects it toward Jio's next obsessions: 5G, 6G and AI infrastructure.
But is the business itself any good?
Honestly, the report card is strong. Revenue grew at a 15.79% CAGR and EBITDA at 17.79% between FY24 and FY26. And FY26 was the first year Jio crossed ₹30,000 crores in annual profit. It serves over 524 million customers, holds a near-50% share of India's wireless broadband market, well ahead of Airtel's 35% and Vodafone Idea's 13%, and runs the world's largest 5G user base outside China at 268.5 million subscribers.
So where's the catch?
Well, there are a few.
One, the spectrum bill. Jio still owes the government about ₹1,04,500 crores for telecom spectrum, payable over the next 13 to 18 years. That's a long-term claim on its future cash flows.
Two, telecom is a treadmill. Jio spent ₹34,184 crores on capex in FY26 alone, and the spending never really stops.
Three, growth leans heavily on ARPU, or average revenue per user, which is simply what each customer pays every month. That number currently sits at ₹214. If tariff hikes slow down or Airtel fights harder, the growth story wobbles.
And then there's the biggest debate of all. What exactly are you buying?
If Jio is a telecom company, then a valuation of roughly 13 times its estimated EBITDA looks expensive. But if it's a technology platform, meaning the pipes plus the apps, cloud, AI and content riding on them, then bulls argue it deserves Big Tech-style multiples. That premium rests almost entirely on the AI and digital platform narrative. If AI monetisation takes longer than promised, the multiple could compress after listing.
How you answer that one question, pipes or platform, pretty much decides whether this IPO looks cheap or costly to you.
Oh, and one detail worth flagging. The DRHP includes a reserved quota for existing Reliance Industries shareholders. So if RIL is already sitting in your demat account, you may get a preferential shot at the issue.
So there you have it. A company that made data nearly free a decade ago is now asking India to put a price on everything that data made possible. SEBI typically takes 30 to 75 days to review the draft papers. So the price band, dates and final verdict are still to come.
Until the next scroll…
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice. Please consult a SEBI-registered financial advisor before making investment decisions.
