K S Srinivasan 17 October 2026

Jio Platforms IPO Update; Ventura Securities Recommends BUY for Jio

Ventura Securities has recommended that investors subscribe to the initial public offering of Jio Platforms, the country's largest digital connectivity company. The Rs 30,213 crore issue opens Oct. 21 and closes Oct. 23 at a price band of Rs 1,065 to Rs 1,119, valuing the company at about Rs 10.3 lakh crore at the top end. It is entirely a fresh issue, and Rs 27,500 crore will be used to prepay debt at the operating subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm. In FY26, revenue rose 14.6% to Rs 1,46,886 crore and net profit rose 16.1% to Rs 31,003 crore. Ventura has not set a listing or price target.

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IPO Note
Telecom & Digital

Jio Platforms Comes to Market, and Ventura Says Subscribe

India's biggest network operator is raising Rs 30,213 crore, almost all of it to pay down debt, at about 33 times last year's earnings.

Bid-cum-application form · Jio Platforms IPO

Bid price (Rs, cut-off)

1119

Lot (shares)

Amount payable

Rs 13,428

Window Oct. 21 to Oct. 23, 2026 · Band Rs 1,065 to Rs 1,119 · Listing NSE & BSE

Ventura Securities has a Subscribe rating on the Jio Platforms offering. The brokerage calls the company India's largest digital services and connectivity platform and points to rising margins, falling leverage and stronger cash generation. Its note, dated Oct. 16, 2026, sets no target price or expected listing price.

Wed, Oct. 21

Issue opens

Thu, Oct. 22

Bidding continues

Fri, Oct. 23

Issue closes

Issue detail	Figure	Issue detail	Figure
Price band	Rs 1,065 to Rs 1,119	Issue size	Rs 30,213 crore
Face value	Rs 10	Fresh shares	27.0 crore
Market lot	12 shares	Shares after issue	920.9 crore
Minimum bid at top of band	Rs 13,428	Market value at Rs 1,119	Rs 10,30,491 crore
Retail quota	At least 35%	QIB / NII quota	Up to 50% / at least 15%

What the Buyer Gets: The Network in Numbers

Jio Platforms combines mobile and home broadband with apps, enterprise services, cloud and artificial intelligence. Its connectivity business runs mainly through Reliance Jio Infocomm, which served 53.33 crore customers as of June 30, 2026. Ventura says about 60% of India's wireless data traffic in FY26 ran on Jio's network, and its wireless broadband covers more than 99% of the population.

53.33 crore

mobile customers

2.86 crore

home broadband users, 1.4 crore on AirFiber

3,60,537

towers in its network

10 lakh+ km

route kilometres of fibre

26,800.8 MHz

of spectrum

7,220

patent applications filed

Five Layers, One Tower

Ventura describes a platform built in five integrated layers. Consumer products include JioTV+, JioSaavn, JioGames, JioAICloud and JioPC. Enterprise lines cover cloud, internet of things, managed Wi-Fi, communications platforms and security. Jio has also built its own 5G standalone stack and an AI platform, JioBrain, which it is deploying across network operations as part of a wider plan to earn money from its technology.

Top · Digital products and services
Streaming, music, games, cloud storage and enterprise tools

Digital connectivity
Mobile, fixed broadband and AirFiber

Phygital distribution
Physical and digital reach to customers

Customer insights
Data drawn from the user base

Base · Proprietary technology
5G standalone stack, JioBrain, patent portfolio

Three Years of Steady Compounding

Revenue rose 14.6% in FY26 to Rs 1,46,885.8 crore. EBITDA grew faster, by 16.4% to Rs 73,382.1 crore, lifting the margin to 50.0% from 49.2%. Net profit rose 16.1% to Rs 31,002.8 crore. Over two years, revenue has compounded at about 15.8% a year and net profit at about 19.7%, by TopNews calculation. Per-share figures in the note are calculated on the post-issue base of 920.9 crore shares.

Rs crore, consolidated	FY24	FY25	FY26
Revenue	1,09,558.1	1,28,218.4	1,46,885.8
EBITDA	54,332.3	63,055.4	73,382.1
EBITDA margin	49.6%	49.2%	50.0%
Net profit	21,641.9	26,714.9	31,002.8
EPS (Rs)	23.5	29.0	33.7
ROE / ROCE / ROIC	7.8% / 6.9% / 7.4%	8.8% / 7.8% / 8.4%	9.2% / 8.4% / 9.7%
Cash from operations	57,661.6	68,155.7	77,556.3

Ventura credits operating leverage and lower network and spectrum costs as a share of sales. That line fell to 31.5% of revenue from 36.1% two years earlier. The itemised bill below shows where each Rs 100 of FY26 revenue went. One cost moved the other way: other expenses rose 36.7% and now take 14.1% of sales, up from 9.4%.

Itemised bill · per Rs 100 of FY26 revenue
Network & spectrumRs 31.5 (36.1)
EmployeesRs 4.5 (4.9)
Other expensesRs 14.1 (9.4)
EBITDA retainedRs 50.0 (49.6)
Bracketed figures are FY24. Lines may not add to 100 because of rounding.

Where the Money Goes: Debt Comes First

Of the Rs 30,213 crore raised, Rs 27,500 crore, or about 91%, will prepay borrowings at Reliance Jio Infocomm. The balance, about Rs 2,713 crore before issue expenses, goes to general corporate purposes. No existing shareholder is selling.

Debt prepayment · Rs 27,500 crore

Light segment: general corporate purposes and issue costs, about Rs 2,713 crore.

Leverage was already modest. Net debt fell to 0.1 times equity, and net debt to EBITDA slid from 0.9 times in FY24 to 0.4 times. Capital spending eased to Rs 34,184 crore from Rs 53,510 crore two years earlier, which helped cash flow.

FY24

0.9x

FY25

0.7x

FY26

0.4x

Net debt to EBITDA, stepping down each year.

The Price Tag at Each End of the Band

At Rs 1,119, Ventura values the company at 33.2 times FY26 earnings, 3.1 times book value, 14.4 times EV/EBITDA and 7.2 times sales. Investors are paying a full multiple for a business whose return on equity is still 9.2%, so the case rests on margins and returns continuing to rise.

Lower end · Rs 1,065

Market value about Rs 9,82,217 crore
P/E about 31.7 times FY26
Minimum bid Rs 12,780

Upper end · Rs 1,119

Market value Rs 10,30,491 crore
P/E 33.2 times FY26
Minimum bid Rs 13,428

The fresh shares dilute existing holders slightly. The promoter group, led by Reliance Industries, will own 64.48% after the issue, down from 66.43%.

Share register · before issue

893.9 crore shares

Promoter 66.43% · Public 33.57%

Share register · after issue

920.9 crore shares

Promoter 64.48% · Public 35.52%

Editor's Note

Ventura's Subscribe call comes with no target price or listing estimate, so this article gives the issue's price band and valuation in place of a target.

The note's figures on debt do not line up. Its cash flow statement shows a net repayment of Rs 16,765.6 crore in FY26, yet long-term borrowings on the balance sheet rose to Rs 51,454.8 crore from Rs 45,228.9 crore. Finance costs also jumped 76% to Rs 8,653.4 crore while net debt fell. The note does not explain either point. A move of assets from capital work in progress into service may have ended capitalised interest, but that is TopNews inference.

The note prints no formal risk list. The risks below are drawn from its own figures.

Before you bid

A full valuation of 33.2 times earnings against single-digit returns on equity; other expenses growing far faster than revenue; finance costs that rose sharply and cut interest cover to 5.3 times from 7.9 times; a business that needs heavy, recurring spending on spectrum and network; and a very large issue whose listing depends on broad demand across investor categories.

Sources

Ventura Securities, Jio Platforms Limited IPO Note, Oct. 16, 2026; company reports cited therein. The note names no individual analyst. Customer and network figures were converted from millions to crore and lakh. The lower-band market value and P/E, two-year growth rates and the cost bill are TopNews calculations from Ventura's printed figures.

Disclaimer: Investments in securities are subject to market risks. This TopNews IPO report is based on brokerage research and is for information only; it is not investment advice. Readers should consult a registered adviser before acting.

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