Jio Platforms made its Dalal Street debut on Wednesday, opening at around ₹1,357 per share on BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty, up nearly 21.3 per cent from the upper end of the IPO price band of ₹1,119.
The listing price was broadly in line with the grey market premium (GMP) ahead of the debut, indicating positive investor sentiment.
An initial public offering (IPO) is the process through which a company offers its shares to the public for the first time, allowing investors to buy a stake in the business. Companies typically launch IPOs to raise funds for expansion, repay debt or meet other business needs.
Before the issue opens, the company announces a price band, in Jio Platforms’ case it was ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 per share, within which investors can apply for shares. Investors apply for an IPO through their trading or investment platforms, or through brokers, specifying the number of shares they wish to buy and the price they are willing to pay, where applicable. The application amount is generally blocked in the investor’s bank account until the allotment process is completed.
Once the IPO closes, shares are allotted to investors in accordance with the issue’s rules and applicable regulations. If an IPO receives more applications than the number of shares available, an investor may not receive the full number of shares applied for, or may receive no allotment at all. After the allotment process, the shares are listed on stock exchanges such as the BSE and NSE, where they can be bought and sold. The listing price is determined by market demand and supply and may be higher or lower than the IPO price.
In the pre-open session, Jio Platforms shares were trading at around ₹1,358 on the BSE and NSE, marking a premium of ₹239, or 21.3 per cent, over the issue price of ₹1,119 (upper band).
Ahead of the opening, Reliance Industries Executive Director Anant Ambani expressed gratitude “to the millions who believed in Jio.”
“Today I express my heartfelt gratitude towards you all. Today, the bell at the Exchange will ring for me as a temple bell because for me, business is puja, and every puja ends with prasad, and prasad is always shared,” he said at the listing ceremony in Mumbai.
Chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), Akash Ambani, also shared an account of how Jio brought data to every corner of India.
“A few years ago, in a mountainous pocket of Keralam, a young girl named Anjali used to walk 2 kms uphill each day, not for water but to have data connectivity to download her school lessons. But with Jio that ended. When we ring the bell today to mark our listing, we remember millions of the Anjalis across the country. A success is measured by the ambitions we encourage and potential we unlock towards a better India,” said Ambani.
Meanwhile, the benchmark Nifty 50 fell 0.32% to 22,678, and the Sensex shed 0.47% to 73,253.44, as of 09:15am.