Jio IPO priced accessibly, proceeds to help clear $3 billion net debt: Isha & Akash Ambani

Jio Platforms has priced its upcoming public issue "accessibly" to ensure investors benefit from its future growth, Isha Ambani, director, Jio Platforms, said on Thursday, pitching the share sale as a long-term value proposition.

"For us, it is most important to be able to price this accessibly so that shareholders who come in can create long-term value along with the growth of Jio Platforms," said Isha Ambani, who co-led the company's global investor meetings alongside her brother Akash Ambani, managing director of Jio Platforms.

The telecom and digital services arm of Reliance Industries is preparing to debut on the bourses amid volatile market conditions, marked by persistent foreign investor outflows and geopolitical tensions.


Reports suggest that Jio has cut the size of its proposed IPO to around ₹30,000 crore from its earlier ambition of around ₹37,000 crore.

The company has set a price band of ₹1,065-1,119 a share for the initial public offering, which values it at ₹10.3 lakh crore at the upper end of the price band.

Defending the pricing, Uday Kotak, chairman of Kotak Investment Bank, the IPO's book-running lead manager, said even at this valuation, Jio's price-to-earnings ratio stands at 34x, compared with 41x for its nearest rival (read: Bharti Airtel), making the issue relatively attractive to investors.

"The RIL Group, after Jio's listing, will be India's largest conglomerate basis listed market cap. This historic IPO comes from the RIL Group after nearly two decades. It will be India's largest IPO ever at ₹30,188 crore at the upper end of the price pack," Kotak said.

Akash Ambani said Jio plans to use the IPO proceeds to eliminate $3 billion in net debt and fund future growth through free cash flow, which constitutes 30% of its annual revenue of about ₹1.5 lakh crore.