From Coinpedia · By Anjali Belgaumkar
Ten years after it set off a price war in Indian telecom, Jio Platforms opens its ₹30,213 crore IPO to the public today. Big institutions have already shown strong interest. On October 19, they bid more than ₹2.5 lakh crore for a ₹8,109.85 crore anchor allotment, over 30 times the amount on offer.
The pricing, however, reflects how much the market has changed. Jio is coming to market at a lower valuation than its nearest rival, Bharti Airtel.
Jio IPO Timeline
Bidding opens: Wednesday, October 21
Bidding closes: Friday, October 23
Allotment: likely Monday, October 26
Listing: Wednesday, October 28, on BSE and NSE
What You Need To Apply
Price band: ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 per share (₹10 face value)
Lot size: 12 shares, a minimum bid of ₹13,428 at the top of the band
Retail quota: at least 35% of the net offer
Reliance shareholder quota: up to ₹2,500 crore
Employee quota: up to ₹500 crore
All 27 crore shares on offer are newly issued, so no existing shareholder is selling. Reliance Industries will keep its majority stake. This is the Reliance group’s first IPO in almost 20 years.
Who Bought In The Anchor Round
The anchor book allotted 7.24 crore shares at ₹1,119 each to 212 investors. The largest allocations were:
Life Insurance Corporation of India: ₹499.98 crore
New World Fund Inc: ₹486.27 crore
Government of Singapore: ₹340.93 crore
SBI Focused Fund: ₹315 crore
BNP Paribas Financial Markets (ODI): ₹303.25 crore
Domestic mutual funds took 34.34% of the anchor book, worth ₹2,784.96 crore. Global investors in the book included BlackRock, Capital Group, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, Schroders, JPMorgan Asset Management, Franklin Templeton and Janus Henderson.
Jio IPO GMP Today
On October 20, Jio shares traded at a grey market premium of about ₹245. That points to a listing price near ₹1,364, about 21.9% above the upper band. Grey market prices are unofficial and can change before listing.
Cheaper Than Airtel
At the top of the band, Jio is valued at about ₹10.3 lakh crore, or $107 billion. Bharti Airtel is worth about $123 billion. Jio is larger on almost every operating measure, but Airtel earns more from each customer:
Average revenue per user (June quarter): Airtel ₹264, Jio ₹216
EBITDA margin: Airtel 57.4%, Jio 53.3%
Trailing price-to-earnings: Airtel almost 37 times, Jio 33.2 times
According to data compiled by Bloomberg, Jio has trailed Airtel on revenue per user for seven years in a row. Airtel shifted towards higher-paying customers from 2019, while Jio kept adding users.