Jio Platforms IPO: Rs 2,500 crore quota for RIL shareholders; how to check eligibility?

Jio Platforms IPO: The mega initial public offering (IPO) of Jio Platforms is set to open for subscription on October 21 and close on October 23. The Rs 30,200 crore issue, which is expected to be India's largest-ever IPO, has a reservation of Rs 3,000 crore (nearly 10 per cent of the issue) for eligible Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) shareholders and Jio employees.

Of the Rs 3,000 crore reservation, Rs 500 crore has been earmarked for employees, who will receive a discount of Rs 54 per share. The price band is fixed at Rs 1,065–1,119 per share, with a lot size of 12 equity shares. Eligible RIL shareholders have a dedicated quota of Rs 2,500 crore but will not receive any discount.

The shareholder reservation in the Jio IPO gives eligible Reliance Industries shareholders an additional route to participate in the issue, subject to the eligibility criteria and applicable bidding limits, said Trivesh D, COO at Tradejini. "The key is to understand the rules for each category rather than assume multiple applications will automatically improve allotment chances."

Are you among the eligible RIL shareholders?
The big question now is who qualifies as an eligible shareholder for the Jio Platforms IPO. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is the parent company of Jio Platforms, which owns a 66.43 per cent stake in the company on a pre-IPO basis.

Any investor who held at least one RIL share in their demat account as of October 14 will be considered eligible for this category, as the red herring prospectus (RHP) for the issue was filed on that date. Investors buying RIL shares on October 14 or afterwards will not qualify for bidding under this category. October 14 was the cut-off date and, considering the T+1 settlement cycle, October 13 was the last day to buy RIL shares to qualify.

Besides holding at least one RIL share, an investor must be an individual or a Hindu undivided family (HUF) to qualify for the category, said Deep Himanshu Shah, Research Analyst at Shoonya. "Only Reliance Industries shares count towards eligibility. Shares of Jio Financial Services do not qualify," he cautioned.

Key points to note
Investors eligible under the shareholder category must understand that allotment is not guaranteed and adhere to the bidding limit of Rs 2 lakh. Applications must be made using the same PAN associated with the account holding the RIL shares.

According to Shah, the issue is expected to be heavily oversubscribed, so even eligible shareholders may not receive shares. Investors should keep their bids under the shareholder category at or below Rs 2 lakh and place only one bid per category. "Confirm the final terms, lot size and category rules in the RHP before you bid," he advised.

Jio Platforms IPO grey market premium
Ahead of its IPO, Jio Platforms is commanding a grey market premium (GMP) of Rs 215–220 per share in the unofficial market, suggesting a potential listing gain of 19–20 per cent over the upper end of the price band. Its GMP has risen from around Rs 145 at the beginning of this month. The GMP is an unofficial indicator and does not guarantee listing gains.