Platforms allotted shares worth ₹8,109.85 crore to 212 anchor investors at the top end of its price band, after institutional demand for the offering exceeded ₹2.5 lakh crore, more than 30 times the amount available in the anchor book, according to a stock exchange filing and people familiar with the matter.
The allotment of 7.24 crore shares at ₹1,119 apiece comes two days before the initial public offering opens for public subscription on Wednesday (October 21, 2026).
The strong demand underscores institutional investor interest in what is expected to be India’s largest IPO, although the extent to which it translates into broader public demand will become clearer once the offer opens.
Life Insurance Corporation of India received the largest allocation, worth ₹499.98 crore, accounting for 6.17% of the anchor portion. New World Fund Inc was allotted shares worth ₹486.27 crore, followed by the Government of Singapore at ₹340.93 crore, SBI Focused Fund at ₹315 crore and BNP Paribas Financial Markets — ODI at ₹303.25 crore.
Domestic mutual funds received 2.489 crore shares worth ₹2,784.96 crore, representing 34.34% of the anchor book, through 95 schemes across 25 fund houses. Life insurers and pension funds received 97.4 lakh shares worth ₹1,089.95 crore, or 13.44% of the total.
Both categories exceeded the allocations reserved for them under the red herring prospectus dated October 14, which earmarked 33.33% of the anchor portion for mutual funds and 6.67% cent for insurers and pension funds.
Global investment firms participating in the anchor book include BlackRock, Capital Group, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, Schroders, JPMorgan Asset Management, Franklin Templeton and Janus Henderson. Sovereign and public investment institutions include the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, alongside other long-term institutional investors.
Some large overseas and domestic institutions bid for allocations worth $750 million to more than $1 billion each, people familiar with the matter said.
Jio Platforms is seeking to raise about ₹30,213 crore through a fresh issue of up to 27 crore shares, at a price band of ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 apiece. The offering values the company at around $108 billion, according to the offer documents.
The IPO will open on October 21 and close on October 23.
Proceeds will partly be used to repay debt at its telecom subsidiary, with the remainder earmarked for general corporate purposes. Reliance Industries Ltd, controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, will retain a majority stake in Jio Platforms after the listing.
Jio Platforms has grown into one of the world’s largest mobile operators by subscriber numbers since Reliance entered the telecom market a decade ago.
The business has expanded beyond mobile connectivity into broadband, digital entertainment, cloud and enterprise services, making it the central part of Reliance’s push into India’s digital economy.
The company had 533.3 million subscribers as of June 2026 and carried nearly 60% of India’s data traffic, according to reported company figures.
The listing will give public-market investors direct exposure to a business that has so far operated as a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. Its scale and the breadth of institutional participation make the offering a closely watched test of investor appetite for large Indian equity issuances.
The anchor book, which allows institutional investors to receive shares before the public subscription period, represents about 27% of the total IPO. Demand exceeding 30 times the anchor allocation, alongside subscriptions at the top of the price band, provides an early indication of institutional appetite for the offering.
However, strong anchor demand does not guarantee similar enthusiasm from retail investors or ensure gains after listing. Investors will weigh Jio’s subscriber base and opportunities in digital services against competitive pressures, regulatory risks, capital requirements and its ability to translate scale into sustained revenue and profit growth, analysts said.
The offering also provides a measure of the Indian market’s capacity to absorb a transaction of this size, with domestic mutual funds, insurers and pension funds accounting for nearly half of the anchor allocation. The public subscription will offer a clearer indication of whether that institutional confidence extends across the wider investor base.
Published – October 20, 2026 02:00 am IST
