Reliance Jio Platforms hits stock market with massive debut and climbs to second spot

Reliance Jio Platforms shares have rallied 23% from their initial public offering price of ₹1,119 to ₹1,375 following a blockbuster market debut on the BSE and NSE. The telecom and digital services company made its debut by opening at ₹1,358 per share, delivering listing gains of around 21% to investors in its ₹30,213-crore initial public offering. The IPO set a world record as the first-ever public offering to receive over one crore applications, becoming the fastest-subscribing issue by fully subscribing within 100 minutes on October 21. Following its listing, Jio Platforms commanded a market capitalisation of around ₹12.50 lakh crore, making it India's largest telecom company by market value. Jio also displaced Bharti Airtel to become India's second-most valuable listed company behind parent Reliance Industries, which held a market capitalisation of ₹16.12 lakh crore. Bharti Airtel slipped to third place with ₹12.03 lakh crore, while HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Tata Consultancy Services followed in the rankings. Major brokerages have initiated coverage with Buy ratings, citing the company's market leadership and future growth prospects. Nomura set a target price of ₹1,340, Elara Securities set a target at ₹1,367, and Motilal Oswal Securities issued a target of ₹1,350. Nomura noted that Jio commands about 42% of India's wireless subscribers, 60% of data traffic, and 43% of home broadband. Analysts project potential tariff hikes of 12 to 15% in the coming fiscal periods, alongside broadband expansion and growing digital services to drive performance.

Context

Major stock market listings by massive conglomerates draw intense institutional and retail interest due to their dominant market share. Such debuts often reshuffle overall market capitalisation rankings among the country's most valuable listed corporations.