New Delhi, October 21, 2026: The initial public offering of Jio Platforms will strengthen its parent Reliance Industries' financial flexibility by reducing debt and interest costs while broadening access to capital for future investments, Moody's Ratings said, describing the transaction as credit positive.
Jio Platforms, in which Reliance owns a 66.4 per cent stake, launched its IPO on Wednesday, seeking to raise about Rs 30,213 crore at the upper end of its price band of Rs 1,065-1,119 per share. The offering, comprising entirely fresh shares, will close on October 23.
Jio Platforms will use up to Rs 27,500 crore of the proceeds to repay borrowings at its wholly owned telecom subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, with the remaining funds available for growth capital expenditure and working capital needs, according to CreditSights.
IPO To Reduce Debt Servicing Costs
"The IPO is credit positive for RIL because the proceeds will reduce debt and associated servicing costs, increasing its capacity to fund investments towards telecommunications networks and digital services at Jio Platforms, without increasing leverage," Moody's Ratings said.
The listing, it said, "will also diversify Jio Platforms' funding sources and broaden its access to domestic and international capital for future investments, acquisitions and strategic partnerships".
The offering is a significant milestone for Reliance's digital business, which contributed 37 per cent of the conglomerate's consolidated EBITDA in the financial year ended March 2026, according to Moody's.
Reliance will retain control of Jio after the listing, although its stake will decline as new shares are issued.
Reliance's Leverage Expected To Remain Stable
Moody's expects Reliance's adjusted net debt-to-EBITDA ratio to remain around 1.0-1.2 times over the next two years, comfortably below its 3.0-times downgrade threshold. The agency said the key credit benefit of the IPO was the additional funding flexibility rather than a material improvement in leverage or liquidity over the next 12 months.
Reliance held about Rs 2.5 lakh crore in cash, cash equivalents and current investments as of March 31, compared with Rs 1.1 lakh crore in reported current borrowings, including lease liabilities, Moody's said. The conglomerate's consolidated capital expenditure is expected to remain elevated at around USD 15 billion annually over the next two years.
CreditSights, meanwhile, maintained its "Market Perform" recommendation on Reliance but said the company's 2045 bond was unattractive, primarily because of tight valuations.
The research firm estimated that the IPO could improve Reliance's pro forma net leverage by about 0.2 percentage points from 2.1 times at the end of the first half of fiscal 2026. It also highlighted Jio's Rs 70,800 crore in total debt and about Rs 1.1 lakh crore in deferred spectrum payments, underscoring the significance of the proposed debt reduction.
Jio's Growth Opportunities And Ownership
Jio's future growth opportunities include next-generation mobile networks, home and satellite broadband, business-to-business data solutions, enterprise AI applications and digital commerce. The company also operates broadband, digital entertainment, music streaming and cloud storage services.
Reliance is expected to retain a majority stake of about 64.5 per cent in Jio after the IPO, according to CreditSights, preserving strategic control while giving the digital business a market valuation of its own.
Existing minority investors, including Meta and Google, will also see their ownership percentages diluted by the fresh share issuance.
Strong Demand From Anchor Investors
The anchor-investor response has been strong. Jio allotted shares worth about Rs 8,110 crore to 212 anchor investors at Rs 1,119 apiece on Monday, with reported demand for the allocation exceeding Rs 2.5 lakh crore.
The IPO comes as investors assess whether Jio can translate its more than 524 million subscribers into higher-margin revenue from enterprise technology, cloud services and AI. For Reliance, the listing offers a way to fund part of its substantial investment programme through equity while reducing reliance on debt.
Also Watch:
Moody's said the listing would also improve transparency and provide a clearer market valuation for Reliance's digital business, which will remain strategically important to the conglomerate after the share sale.
(Disclaimer: Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
