Reliance to list Jio by H1 2026 in landmark IPO
What's the story
Reliance Industries Limited, India's most valuable company, has announced its plan to take its telecom arm, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, public. The announcement was made by Chairman Mukesh Ambani at the company's annual general meeting today. Ambani said they are "making all arrangements to file for its IPO" and hope to list Jio in the first half of 2026, pending necessary approvals.
Market influence
Jio's impact on India's telecom landscape
Since its commercial launch in 2016, Jio has grown to over 500 million customers, more than the combined populations of the US, UK, and France. The company's affordable data and free voice calls have transformed India's telecom sector. Jio's network has also fueled India's UPI payments boom and the rise of several unicorn startups.
Expansion strategy
Jio's rapid growth and financial performance
Jio has also achieved the fastest 5G rollout globally and plans to expand into smart homes, enterprise digitization, and consumer AI services. In FY25, Jio reported a revenue of ₹1.28 lakh crore and an EBITDA of ₹64,170 crore. A public listing would give global investors direct access to India's largest telecom operator while unlocking significant value at the conglomerate level.
Record-breaking offering
Potential record-breaking IPO
The Reliance Jio IPO could be the biggest in Indian history, nearly double Hyundai India's massive public issue last year. Earlier reports had pegged the size of Jio Infocomm's IPO at around ₹52,000 crore. If RIL goes ahead with this plan, it would surpass Hyundai India's ₹28,000 crore IPO by a huge margin.
Investor exit
Exit option for global investors
The IPO would also provide an exit option to marquee global investors such as Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google, who had invested over $20 billion in Reliance's digital venture in 2020. Back then, Jio Platforms, which houses Reliance's digital and telecom assets, was valued at $58 billion.
Regulatory changes
SEBI proposes to ease listing rules
Recently, markets regulator SEBI proposed to ease listing rules that have been a major hurdle for mega offerings. The proposal is to reduce the size of mandatory offer from 5% to 2.5% for companies valued at over ₹5 lakh crore. This would halve Jio's IPO issue size from over $6 billion (under current rules) to just over $3 billion, making it more feasible in the Indian market.