Jio Platforms has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its upcoming initial public offering, a development that marks a significant value creation milestone for Reliance Industries (RIL) shareholders.

Reliance Industries shareholders may still qualify for a reserved portion of the offering, according to the company. RIL has confirmed in Jio Platforms' Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) that the IPO will include a reservation for eligible RIL shareholders.

Shareholder reservations are an established feature of Indian public offerings, most notably used in the 2021 listing of Zomato parent-era IPOs and, earlier, in state-run divestments, where a slice of the issue is set aside for existing shareholders of the parent company alongside quotas for retail and institutional investors. This mechanism is intended to let longstanding parent-company shareholders participate directly in the listing of a subsidiary.

The final details regarding the share reservation and the record date for determining shareholder eligibility are still pending. Investors holding RIL shares at the time of the record date would be positioned to participate in the reserved portion of the offering, though the company has not yet announced the specific terms.

The Jio Platforms IPO represents one of the most anticipated public listings in India's markets, and is expected to rank among the largest IPOs the country has seen. Jio Platforms, the digital services arm of Reliance Industries, houses the telecom operator Reliance Jio Infocomm — India's largest telecom operator by subscriber base — along with a portfolio of digital applications and services. The listing follows years of investor interest in a separate public debut of the digital business, which has attracted multi-billion-dollar investments from global firms including Facebook-parent Meta, Google, and several private equity investors, who acquired stakes in Jio Platforms starting in 2020. A separate listing would also continue RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani's stated strategy of carving out and listing individual businesses within the conglomerate, a path already taken with the 2021 listing of Jio Financial Services' demerged entity.

The question of timing remains central for RIL shareholders hoping to access the reserved quota in the IPO. Since eligibility is typically determined by shareholding on a record date announced before the listing, the window for buying RIL shares to qualify depends on when that record date is set.

Further details on the reservation size, record date, price band, and listing timeline are expected to be announced as the IPO process moves forward following the regulatory approval.

Source: Economic Times Markets