Jio eyes up to $140 bn IPO valuation; TPG, KKR, General Atlantic, Silver Lake to sell

Parent Reliance Industries Ltd is not expected to offload any shares, and the company is also not looking to issue new stock to raise capital, as it will be a standalone offer for sale by some of its shareholders, said the bankers, who didn’t want to be identified as discussions were private.

Jio Platforms executives met with representatives of 17-19 investment banks this week before filing its draft papers with the regulator for the initial public offering (IPO).

“Some of the selling shareholders were also part of this meeting,” said one of the senior bankers present. The meeting was held to outline the role of individual bankers in the book-building process, said another.

A General Atlantic spokesperson and TPG declined to comment. Reliance, KKR, and Silver Lake did not respond to Mint's queries sent on Tuesday.

The gathering was the final run-up to the IPO filing, touted as India's biggest by a private company, which is expected to offload around 2.5%-2.7% of its stake. The offer will have to brave the ongoing global turmoil in equity markets triggered by the oil shock stemming from the war in West Asia. The escalation in the region is expected to dampen sentiment in 2026 after a record year for IPOs in India.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley and Citi Research have pegged Jio Platforms’ valuation at around $133 billion, implying a 13 times multiple on its estimated 2026-27 enterprise value against its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

Jio Platforms is the holding company for the group's telecom and digital businesses. A clutch of 13 investors—Facebook (now Meta), Google, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, ADIA, TPG, L Catterton, Public Investment Fund, Intel Capital and Qualcomm Ventures—had bought a 32.96% stake in Jio Platforms for more than ₹1.5 trillion over 2020 and 2021.

Mint reported earlier in March that IPO details had been finalized and teams working on the listing plans were given a target of 15-20 days to file the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP).

A DRHP provides a detailed look into a firm’s financials, operations, strengths and risks, and is filed with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Announced last year during parent company RIL’s annual general meeting, the IPO will also test the market appetite for pure-play telecom companies, with two of its rivals—Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone Idea Ltd—already listed.

Jio Platforms was awaiting the government's nod on the 2.5% public shareholding norms and will now move ahead with its plans to tap the capital markets.

Last week, the finance ministry changed rules to allow companies with a post-issue valuation above ₹5 trillion ($54 billion) to dilute at least 2.5% of their equity, down from the 5% threshold earlier. The easing will also help companies such as the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to successfully list on Indian exchanges, Mint reported earlier.