Mumbai: The red herring prospectus of Jio Platforms, the digital and telecom arm of Reliance Industries, has set the stage for what is expected to be India's largest-ever public issue. The offering comprises a fresh issue of up to 270 million equity shares of face value Rs 10 each, representing roughly 3 per cent of the company's post-issue equity base, which allows Reliance Industries to retain a dominant ownership position after the listing.
With an estimated issue size of around Rs 30,213 crore, the Jio Platforms IPO dwarfs every public offering the Indian market has seen before. As retail and institutional investors prepare to evaluate the issue, here are the ten key things the RHP tells us.
1. Where the money goes
A significant portion of the IPO proceeds will be used to prepay certain outstanding borrowings of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, Jio Platforms' key operating subsidiary. The remaining net proceeds are earmarked for general corporate purposes. The company reported total borrowings of Rs 70,781 crore as of March 2026, down from Rs 73,060 crore a year earlier — and net leverage, measured as net debt to EBITDA, has fallen sharply from 0.88 times in FY24 to just 0.36 times in FY26.
2. Staggering scale of the business
Jio Platforms reported revenue from operations of Rs 1,46,885 crore in FY26, up from Rs 1,28,218 crore in FY25 and Rs 1,09,558 crore in FY24. EBITDA stood at Rs 76,255 crore with an EBITDA margin of 51.9 per cent — one of the highest margins among telecom operators globally. Profit after tax was Rs 30,049 crore, with a net profit margin of 20.46 per cent. Both revenue and profit have grown steadily every year, while margins have held up.
3. India's largest subscriber base
Jio had 524.4 million subscribers as of March 31, 2026, making it India's largest telecom operator by subscriber base. The company added 36.2 million net subscribers in FY26 alone. By June 2026, the subscriber count stood at about 533 million, with roughly 285 million on 5G and about 28.6 million on fixed broadband. Prepaid plans accounted for 77 per cent of FY26 revenue.
4. Improving subscriber economics
Average revenue per user (ARPU) rose to Rs 214 per month in FY26 from Rs 206.2 in FY25 and Rs 181.7 in FY24. In the first quarter of FY27, monthly ARPU climbed further to Rs 215.6. Monthly churn stood at 1.67 per cent in FY26, down from 1.81 per cent the previous year — an encouraging sign of subscriber stickiness in a competitive market.
5. The country's biggest spectrum bank
As of June 30, 2026, Jio held India's largest spectrum portfolio at 26,800.8 MHz, with an average remaining life of 16 years. It is the only Indian operator with nationwide 5G spectrum across the 700 MHz, 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz bands — a combination that offers wider coverage and indoor connectivity, mainstream 5G speeds, and high capacity for dense urban areas and fixed wireless services such as JioAirFiber.
The company says this spectrum mix has helped it deliver mobile broadband speeds more than twice the average of other operators over the past three years.
6. A research and development powerhouse
As of the first quarter of FY27, Jio Platforms and its subsidiaries had filed 7,220 patent applications across 4G, 5G, 6G, cloud-native network architecture, AI-led automation and other digital technologies. Of these, 2,655 were filed in India and 4,565 in overseas jurisdictions. Jio was the only Indian company among the world's top 20 in the 2025 WIPO PCT rankings, underscoring a focus on in-house research and development that few Indian companies can match.
7. Beyond mobile: AI, satellite and 6G
Jio Platforms is expanding well beyond conventional mobile connectivity. Its investments in 6G research, the JioBrain-led network automation platform, cloud-native networks and digital services aim to improve operational efficiency and accelerate product development. The company is evaluating indigenous satellite constellations and ground infrastructure to improve connectivity in remote areas, while partnering with global satellite operators to accelerate service availability.
Its proprietary JioBrain platform supports network capacity allocation, fault prediction and real-time optimisation — technologies it may eventually offer to overseas telecom operators and enterprises.
8. A digital services empire
The portfolio extends far beyond telecom. Jio Platforms' digital businesses include JioAirFiber, JioTV, JioTV+, JioSaavn, JioCloud and enterprise connectivity solutions, alongside AI platform initiatives such as JioBrain. The strategy is to monetise the subscriber base across content, cloud, enterprise solutions and artificial intelligence, turning a telecom operator into a full-stack digital platform.
9. A blue-chip investor roster
Jio Platforms' existing investors read like a who's who of global capital: Google, Meta Platforms, Silver Lake, KKR, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, General Atlantic, TPG, Vista Equity Partners, Mubadala, Intel Capital and Qualcomm Ventures. Akash Ambani serves as Managing Director, with Reliance Industries remaining the promoter.
10. The risk factors to weigh
The DRHP's risk section runs to dozens of pages, and investors would do well to read it. Key disclosed risks include spectrum and licence renewals, network reliability, technology disruption, intellectual property disputes, related-party arrangements with Reliance group entities, infrastructure dependence, cybersecurity incidents, indebtedness and evolving regulation.
The company notes there is no established public trading market for its shares before the IPO, so the issue price will not guarantee the market price after listing. It also discloses contingent liabilities of Rs 1,468.8 crore.
Peer comparison puts the scale in perspective. Jio's FY26 revenue of Rs 1,46,885 crore and diluted EPS of Rs 33.59 compare with Bharti Airtel's revenue of Rs 2,10,972 crore and EPS of Rs 45.96 — though Jio's numbers are for the platforms business alone, which includes but is not limited to the telecom operations.
The first quarter of FY27 showed continued momentum: revenue of Rs 39,173 crore was up 11.8 per cent year on year, EBITDA of Rs 20,865 crore was up 15.1 per cent, and profit after tax of Rs 7,764 crore was up 9.2 per cent. Profit grew slower than EBITDA in the quarter because depreciation and finance costs rose as 5G assets came on stream.
For India's capital markets, the listing is a landmark event regardless of subscription levels. It will give public investors direct exposure to the country's largest digital platform at a time when telecom, AI and digital services are converging — and it will test the market's appetite for mega-issues in a single stroke.
(Reporting based on Livemint, ET Now, ICICI Direct and Paytm Money.)