Jio IPO could make Reliance India's largest conglomerate: Uday Kotak
What's the story
Jio Platforms' upcoming listing could push Reliance Group past Tata Group to become India's most valuable conglomerate by market capitalization. Uday Kotak, a veteran banker and the founder and director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, highlighted this potential at Jio's IPO press conference on Thursday. He said, "The RIL group, after Jio's listing, will be India's largest conglomerate basis listed market cap."
Market impact
Reliance Group's current market value
The proposed listing of Jio Platforms could significantly widen the Reliance Group's lead over its peers.
The estimated valuation of Jio Platforms at ₹10.3 lakh crore would add substantially to the market value of its existing listed businesses.
As of October 15, Reliance Industries had a market capitalization of around ₹16.55 lakh crore while Jio Financial Services was valued at approximately ₹1.44 lakh crore.
Together, these two companies were worth nearly ₹18 lakh crore in total market cap terms.
IPO details
How Jio's listing will impact Reliance's market cap
At the upper end of its IPO price band of ₹1,119 per share, Jio Platforms is valued at around ₹10.3 lakh crore.
Adding this to the existing market capitalization of Reliance Industries and Jio Financial Services would take the group's aggregate listed market value to around ₹28.3 lakh crore.
This would put Reliance ahead of Tata Group, whose aggregate market capitalization stood at ₹25.5 lakh crore as of October 15, according to calculations by Moneycontrol.
Market lead
Proposed IPO to raise ₹30,213 crore at upper price band
Based on these estimates, the Reliance Group would have a lead of nearly ₹2.8 lakh crore over the Tata Group after Jio Platforms's listing.
The IPO consists of a fresh issue of 27 crore shares and is expected to raise ₹30,213 crore at the upper end of its price band.
The public issue will open for subscription on October 21 and close on October 23.
Investor perspective
Listing to provide investors with a clear valuation of Jio
The listing will give investors a separately traded valuation for Reliance's telecom and digital services business.
This has expanded beyond mobile connectivity into broadband, cloud services, entertainment, enterprise solutions, and digital platforms.
Reliance Industries will hold a 64.41% stake in Jio Platforms post-IPO. At the upper-end IPO valuation, its remaining holding would be worth about ₹6.6 lakh crore.