Reliance Jio Platforms is preparing to seek regulatory approvals for a Mumbai stock market listing in what could become India’s biggest-ever initial public offering. Backed by billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani, the company is now positioning itself as a diversified technology and digital services giant beyond its telecom origins.

According to a Reuters report yesterday, the proposed IPO process, which had initially been expected earlier, was delayed amid slowing IPO activity and investor caution linked to geopolitical tensions in West Asia. The offering is now reportedly being planned as a fresh fundraising exercise instead of a pure offer-for-sale, with the company expected to issue shares equivalent to nearly 2.5 per cent of its valuation.

Launched in 2016, Jio rapidly transformed India’s telecom landscape by introducing free voice calls and highly affordable data plans, disrupting competitors such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. The aggressive pricing strategy helped millions of Indians gain internet access for the first time and significantly accelerated digital consumption across the country.

Today, Jio claims to account for nearly 60 percent of India’s total data traffic, making it one of the largest telecom and digital connectivity providers globally. The telecom business has become the core of Jio Platforms, which houses the world’s second-largest telecom network by subscriber base after China Mobile.

In recent years, the company has aggressively expanded into cloud services, artificial intelligence, enterprise networking and digital applications. In 2023, NVIDIA announced a partnership with Reliance to develop AI cloud infrastructure and language models aimed at strengthening India’s AI ecosystem.

Mukesh Ambani currently serves as Chairman of Jio Platforms, while his children— Akash Ambani, Anant Ambani and Isha Ambani — are members of the company’s board. Akash Ambani also chairs the flagship telecom arm, Reliance Jio Infocomm. Meanwhile, Kiran Thomas leads the company as CEO.

Financially, Jio Platforms reported operating revenue of nearly USD13.65 billion for the financial year ending March 2025, with close to 90 per cent of the earnings coming from its telecom business. The company also posted a profit after tax of approximately USD 2.8 billion during the year.

Global investment bank Jefferies had estimated Jio’s valuation at nearly USD 180 billion in November. Earlier reports also suggested the IPO could potentially raise around USD 4 billion, although final numbers are expected to be determined closer to the launch.

Jio Platforms has also attracted several marquee global investors over the years. In 2020, the company raised over USD 20.5 billion from 13 global investors in exchange for nearly one-third equity ownership. Major investors include Meta Platforms, Alphabet, KKR, General Atlantic, Silver Lake and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Meta currently holds a 9.9 per cent stake in the company, while Google owns around 7.7 per cent. These investments had strengthened Ambani’s larger vision of building Jio Platforms into a major global technology and digital services company.

The IPO journey, however, has been a long one. Back in 2019, Mukesh Ambani had indicated that Jio would move towards a public listing within five years, but timelines were later pushed back. The company has now reportedly appointed 17 banks to manage the public offering process, signalling preparations for one of the most closely watched IPOs in India’s corporate history.