Beauty parade in full swing as Reliance shortlists bankers for Jio IPO

RIL to finalise bankers for Jio Platforms' IPO by year-end; listing expected in first half of 2026, likely to be India's biggest at around $6 billion; recalibrates Russian oil imports amid US sanction

Reliance Industries (RIL), now in the middle of a beauty parade for selecting bankers for the upcoming Jio Platforms IPO (initial public offering) during the first half of 2026, is looking at the end of this calendar to finalise the top financial team that will manage the listing and provide advisory services through the process. 

A decision on merchant bankers — expected to be multiple in numbers — as well as on the size of the IPO of the telecom behemoth is likely by the end of December, sources said. Because of the year-end holiday season in many parts of the world, it could spill over to early January. 

On the size of the Jio IPO, the expectation is it will be the largest so far in India with analysts pegging it at around $6 billion. However, sources said that a call would be taken by the end of this year on the quantum of dilution, depending on market conditions. The dilution of paid-up share capital could be anything between 2.5 per cent and 5 per cent, they indicated. 

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) recently approved a proposal allowing very large companies to launch IPOs with a minimum dilution of just 2.5 per cent of their paid-up share capital, down from 5 per cent earlier. 

No strategic investor is likely to cash out during the process, sources believe. 

While the size of the IPO will depend on the valuation of Jio Platforms at the time of listing, the estimated analysts’ range right now is rather wide — anything from $112 billion to $148 billion. 

Company executives, without spelling out a valuation, have been bullish that the Jio IPO would be a super hit.

 

The listing is not need-based, and that it’s about a commitment to shareholders, they pointed out. 

On the road to its IPO, Jio would want to strengthen its 4G to 5G conversion further (currently at around 50 per cent of the total subscriber base). It’s also focused on adding subscribers in both mobile services and home broadband. According to the latest numbers from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), Jio led with 3.25 wireless subscriber addition in September. 

On the question of tariff increase on the road to its IPO, however, sources said Jio had not taken any call internally even if other telecom players are discussing such a possibility. Currently, there’s no tariff difference between 4G and 5G for Jio users.                 

The beauty parade for to select bankers for Jio IPO comes at a time when RIL is in the midst of a “recalibration’’ in Russian oil import following the US sanctions on two companies — Roseneft and Lukoil. As there’s no direction from the government yet on cutting import of Russian oil, RIL has not taken any decision on whether to bring down its imports from Russia to zero, according to people in the know. It is learnt to be tying up with others — Latin American countries, the US and West Asia — for sourcing oil. A source estimated that the development could push up oil prices by 10 to 15 per cent. 

The company did not comment on any of the issues.