Mukesh Ambani's RIL may be planning to list Reliance Jio next year

The telecom services provider Jio, part of the Reliance Industries group, is aiming to improve its financial performance

Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is said to be in talks for an initial public offering (IPO) for its mobile operator Jio. According to a Bloomberg report, Reliance is holding internal discussions about preparing to list Jio as early as late 2018 or early 2019. An RIL representative approached by Bloomberg for its report declined to comment.

An opportunity for Jio

Jio, which hasn’t made a profit since its official launch last year, is aiming to improve its financial performance before any share sale, said Bloomberg quoting people close to the development refusing to be named as the information was private. 

Macquarie Research analyst Aditya Suresh earlier said, "Since carrier Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd is a new business, it will have to account for “significant” depreciation and amortisation charges, which will result in losses till the year ending March 2021. Depreciation and amortisation allow a company to spread out an asset’s cost over its life."

A Jio listing is likely to aid Ambani's thumping return to the wireless telecom market.

Reliance Jio - a jewel for Ambani

Mukesh Ambani had earlier described Jio as “a jewel” among Reliance assets during the company’s annual general meeting on 21 July. “Its business and societal value will grow immensely over the next decade,” he said. “Jio will become India’s largest provider of data service, products and application platforms.”

Jio took just nine months after launching with a free introductory offer to rope in 117.3 million users and become India’s fourth-largest operator.

Optimism about the telecom upstart’s prospects grew after Ambani announced initial pricing for the service in February, sparking an almost 50 per cent surge in Reliance shares.

For Ambani, the gains have swelled his net worth to $34.8 billion, taking him to number 19 in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index from 29 at the end of 2016. He passed Li Ka-shing—whose empire spans telecommunications, retail and ports—for a few days in April and again on 7 July.