Mukesh Ambani will launch an IPO after about 20 years.
The year 2026 is not special only for Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Group or their investors. In fact, it is also going to be most important for the country’s stock market. Mukesh Ambani is going to launch the IPO of Reliance Jio platform in the first half of the year 2026. Whose valuation can be so much that once the company gets listed, it will become the third largest company in the country. According to estimates, the market cap of Jio is estimated to be more than 170 billion dollars i.e. 15 lakh crore rupees. The special thing is that this IPO will be the biggest IPO in the history of the country. Also, a Reliance Group company will be seen getting listed in the stock market after almost two decades. The last time Reliance Group company was launched in the stock market was in the year 2006. Let us also tell you what kind of information has been given in the Bloomberg report.
Valuation could be Rs 15 lakh crore
Bloomberg’s report, quoting sources, has informed that investment bankers are proposing a valuation of up to $ 170 billion for Jio Platforms Limited, which can happen before the record-breaking IPO of the wireless carrier of Reliance Industries Limited. With such a huge valuation, Jio will be among India’s biggest two or three companies by market cap, higher than the other telco Bharti Airtel Ltd, which has a valuation of around Rs 12.7 lakh crore ($143 billion). Mukesh Ambani controlled Reliance Industries is far ahead with about Rs 20 lakh crore. According to sources, talks are going on with bankers and the proposals for Jio range from $130 billion to $170 billion.
So it will become the world’s 5th largest telecom company.
If the valuation that is being discussed is achieved, then Jio can become the 5th largest telecom company in the world in terms of market cap. At present, China’s China Mobile is at number 1 with a market cap of more than Rs 21 lakh crore. After that is Japan’s Soft Bank. Whose market cap is more than Rs 20 lakh crore. The market cap of American mobile operator T-Mobile US is Rs lakh crore. While American operator AT&T is at number four. Whose market cap is around Rs 15.50 lakh crore. In this list, Bharti Airtel will be the 7th largest company in the world. The special thing is that after America, India will be the second country whose market cap of two or more telecom companies will be more than Rs 10 lakh crore.
Will any IPO come after 20 years?
Asia’s richest businessman Mukesh Ambani had said in August that Jio’s listing could happen in the first half of 2026. It has taken years to prepare, especially since they had talked about a possible IPO in 2019 itself. Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc. announced an investment of more than $ 10 billion in Jio next year. Jio’s share sale will be the first issue of a major business unit of Reliance since the launch of Reliance Petroleum Limited in 2006. It was initially expected that Jio’s IPO could raise more than $6 billion, breaking the record of $3.3 billion set by Hyundai Motor India Limited in 2024, but this amount is likely to be reduced following changes in Indian listing rules.
What do the new rules say?
Under the amended rules, companies with a market cap of more than Rs 5 lakh crore will have to issue shares worth at least Rs 150 billion after listing and disinvest only 2.5 per cent of the equity. For Jio, if it gets the highest valuation offer, the amount would be around $4.3 billion. Sources said that the details of Jio’s offer are still under discussion. No official statement has come from Reliance yet. Jio had about 506 million customers at the end of September and average revenue per user in that month’s quarter was Rs 211.4, while Bharti Airtel had a customer base of about 450 million and average revenue per user was Rs 256.