Jio Platforms IPO: How Ambani's secret Jupiter paved the way for India's biggest listing

Jio Platforms, the digital entity of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is eyeing to make a stock market debut soon, after a slight delay. Last August, Mukesh Ambani told shareholders that Jio Platforms, would seek a stock market listing in the first half of 2026. That plan moved to the next stage on June 19, when RIL. filed the draft prospectus for Jio’s IPO after months of secret preparations under Project Jupiter, Bloomberg reported.

According to people familiar with the matter, Reliance was trying to solve three problems behind closed doors: persuade regulators to ease listing rules, convince major investors to sell shares, and prepare what was described as the country’s biggest listing without revealing its final structure. Only a small circle of executives and senior bankers knew how the transaction was taking shape.

Draft prospectuses, investor presentations and internal memoranda were circulated largely in physical form, while emails and other electronic communication were kept to a minimum to avoid digital trails, the people said. Meetings were limited to the highest levels. 

Project Jupiter was activated by October and led by senior executives including Chief Financial Officer V. Srikanth, KR Raja and Jio executive Anshuman Thakur. Kotak Mahindra Capital Co. and Morgan Stanley were the first banks brought in, before the syndicate expanded in December. A spokesperson for Reliance and Jio declined to comment.

Although the banks had started work earlier, they were not formally appointed until at least December, an arrangement that let advisers work on the deal while it was still being structured, according to people familiar with the process. One of Reliance’s biggest hurdles was securing agreement from existing shareholders.

KKR & Co, Meta Platforms, Alphabet and other investors eventually agreed to dilute about 8 per cent of their holdings on a pro-rata basis, helping Jio meet public float requirements while preserving relative ownership. Reliance had originally planned an offer-for-sale in which existing investors would sell about 2.8 per cent of Jio and the company itself would sell no shares. 

But some shareholders baulked at the proposed valuation amid weak market conditions and the impact of a falling rupee on dollar returns, Bloomberg reported. At the same time, the regulatory backdrop was shifting. In September, Sebi cut the minimum dilution requirement for companies valued above Rs 5 lakh crore to 2.5 per cent from 5 per cent.

The government notified the revised norms on March 13 after a February delay, and the filing was deferred again on March 27 because of weak market conditions. By May, Reliance had switched the IPO to an all-primary issuance, ensuring that the roughly $4 billion expected to be raised would remain with the company and stay in India as the government took steps to encourage foreign capital to remain in the country. 

When Ambani returned to the stage at Reliance’s annual shareholder meeting nine months after his first announcement and declared Jio ready to go public, bankers who had been primed for weeks were ready to file at short notice. The draft prospectus was submitted on June 19 with 19 advisers on the mandate. People involved in the process also noted a piece of numerical symmetry: Ambani was born on April 19.