EconomyIPOs
Jio IPO nears 10 times subscribed on final day as institutions bid 23 times their share
Big investors poured into India's largest share sale on its last day, lifting total demand from 5.5 times to almost 10 times by mid-afternoon. Retail bidding stayed modest, which should leave most small applicants with the shares they asked for.
Key points
- The ₹30,213 crore issue was subscribed 9.81 times by 2:10 pm on Friday.
- Qualified institutional buyers bid for 23.47 times their quota.
- Allotment is due on 26 October and the shares are set to list on 28 October.
Jio Platforms’ share sale, the largest ever attempted in India, drew bids for nearly 10 times the shares on offer on its final day on Friday, as institutional investors made their move in the closing hours.
By 2:10 pm the ₹30,213 crore issue had been subscribed 9.81 times, according to exchange data. That was up from 5.73 times at 9:26 am and 5.51 times at the end of Thursday. Demand climbed steadily through the session: 6.90 times at 12:10 pm, 7.70 times an hour later, and close to double digits soon after 2 pm.
Institutions lead the rush
The surge came almost entirely from the big money. Qualified institutional buyers, such as mutual funds, insurers, banks and foreign funds, had bid for 23.47 times the shares reserved for them by 2:10 pm, up from 13.29 times in the morning. Large institutions often wait for the last day to place their orders in a heavily watched offer, and they did so here.
Non-institutional investors, mostly wealthy individuals and companies, subscribed 11.97 times their portion. Retail investors were steadier and far less frantic, at 2.28 times.
That modest retail figure matters for small bidders. The retail portion is the largest single block in the issue at about 8.5 crore shares, and with demand at around twice that, most applicants bidding at the minimum lot should have a reasonable chance of getting shares when allotment is decided.
How the issue works
Jio, the digital and telecom arm of Reliance Industries, is selling only new shares, at ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 each in lots of 12. No existing shareholder is selling. Before the offer opened on 21 October, the company raised ₹8,109.85 crore from anchor investors, who took about 7.25 crore shares at ₹1,119.
The scale of the offer has been felt across the market. Some market participants said investors had been pulling money out of small and mid-sized shares to bid for Jio, one of several reasons cited for a slump of nearly 4% in the Nifty Smallcap 100 index on Friday. Dollar inflows tied to the issue also helped the rupee earlier this week.
What comes next
Bidding ends on Friday. Allotment is expected to be finalised on Monday, 26 October, and the shares are scheduled to begin trading on the BSE and NSE on Wednesday, 28 October. The listing will make Jio one of the most valuable companies on Indian exchanges and will be watched as a test of how much appetite remains for big new issues in a market rattled by oil prices and the conflict in West Asia.