Jio Platforms Shifts IPO to 2.5% Fresh Share Issue

Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms has restructured its planned initial public offering in Mumbai, shifting to a pure fresh issue of new shares representing a 2.5 percent equity stake for new investors, with all proceeds directed to the company rather than existing shareholders.

The change abandons earlier plans for an offer-for-sale component that would have allowed investors to sell portions of their holdings. Sources familiar with the matter said existing backers, including Meta Platforms with a 9.9 percent stake and Alphabet's Google with 7.7 percent, opted against selling amid market volatility linked to tensions in West Asia. One source noted that investors preferred to remain exposed to Jio's long-term growth.

Jio Platforms, the digital and technology arm of Reliance Industries, operates India's largest telecom network through Reliance Jio Infocomm, which serves more than 500 million subscribers and commands about 60 percent of the country's data traffic. Launched in 2016 with aggressive low-price plans, it disrupted competitors like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, enabling widespread access to services such as YouTube and Facebook.

The company has expanded beyond telecom into...