PRIYABRAT BISWAL

BHUBANESWAR, OCTOBER 15, 2026

Reliance Industries' Jio is positioning itself to capture a significant share of India's digital economy, projected to reach USD 1.4 trillion by fiscal year 2030-31 (FY31), banking on its 533 million-plus customer base, expanding 5G network and in-house technology capabilities, Akash Ambani, chairman of Reliance Jio, said on Thursday.

"We see goal of enabling India as a premier digital society. Jio Platform is as an able partner to enable that," Ambani said at a press conference in Mumbai ahead of the initial public offering (IPO) of Jio Platforms Ltd (JPL).

Emphasising affordability as the foundation of the company's strategy, Ambani said Jio's data pricing was among the lowest in the world. The company, which has transformed India's digital connectivity landscape over the past decade, is now looking to extend its reach beyond telecom services into artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and enterprise digital solutions.

Jio Platforms is set to launch its IPO to raise up to ₹30,213 crore through a fresh issue of up to 270 million equity shares of face value ₹10 each. The issue will open for subscription on October 21 and close on October 23, 2026, with bidding by anchor investors scheduled for October 19.

The company has fixed a price band of ₹1,065-1,119 per share. At the upper end, the issue would value Jio Platforms at around ₹10.3 lakh crore.

Ambani said the entire amount raised through the public issue would be used to repay debt as Jio Platforms works towards achieving a net debt-free position.

The company has reserved shares worth up to ₹500 crore for eligible employees and ₹2,500 crore for eligible Reliance Industries Ltd. shareholders, including individuals and Hindu Undivided Families. Eligible employees applying under the employee reservation portion will receive a discount of ₹54 per share. The lot size is 12 shares, with subsequent bids in multiples of 12.

Jio's scale in the Indian market remains central to its growth ambitions. Ambani said the company carries more than 60 per cent of India's data tariff, underlining its strong position in the telecom sector. According to the company's investor presentation, Jio had 533.3 million connectivity customers as of June 30, 2026, while its 5G customer base stood at around 285 million, making it the largest outside China.

The company is seeking to turn this extensive customer reach into a broader digital-services opportunity, with mobility, home broadband, and enterprise and international services identified as its three principal growth engines. Its digital ecosystem includes 333.6 million digital-services subscriptions sold monthly, while the company is targeting further growth in broadband adoption, customer spending and digital-service usage.

Jio's infrastructure provides a further foundation for expansion. The company has access to 360,537 telecom towers and more than one million route kilometres of fibre, backed by spectrum holdings of 26,800.8 MHz, which its presentation describes as the industry's largest spectrum bank.

On technology development, Ambani said Jio's decision to build its own systems had enabled it to develop a proprietary technology stack, reducing its dependence on external providers.

"We built our own stack to serve our customers better," he said, highlighting the company's investments in research and development.

Jio Platforms has submitted 7,220 patent applications in India and abroad, making it the only Indian company among the world's top 20 applicants in the World Intellectual Property Organisation's 2025 Patent Cooperation Treaty rankings, Ambani said. A team of more than 12,000 engineers is driving the company's technology development, he added.

The company is also preparing for the next phase of mobile communications, with plans to implement sixth-generation (6G) technology through software upgrades rather than an entirely new infrastructure build-out.

"6G is on our horizon. What this really means is that we will implement 6G as a software upgrade rather than through a new infrastructure build-out..." Ambani said.

Such a software-led approach could allow Jio to build on its existing systems and reduce the need for fresh physical infrastructure on the scale associated with earlier generations of mobile networks.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is another key area of expansion. Jio plans to roll out AI-powered services, including call summarisation and transcription in 12 Indian languages, to make the technology more accessible to its vast customer base.

The tools are designed to help users summarise conversations, transcribe calls and take action based on discussions. Support for multiple Indian languages is expected to widen access to AI services among customers across the country.

Jio is also looking to expand its enterprise and international business, with its investor presentation identifying an Indian enterprise digital-spending opportunity of around ₹5.1 lakh crore, or USD 56.8 billion, in FY26. The company plans to monetise its technology stack in select overseas markets, creating opportunities beyond domestic connectivity services.

Its financial performance provides the foundation for these expansion plans. Jio Platforms reported revenue of ₹76,255 crore in FY26, while EBITDA grew at a compound annual growth rate of 17.8 per cent between FY24 and FY26. Its EBITDA margin stood at 53.3 per cent in the first quarter of FY27, while EBITDA less cash capital expenditure amounted to 28.6 per cent of revenue in FY26, according to the investor presentation.