Reliance Jio gears up for India's biggest IPO

India's Reliance Industries has firmed up longstanding plans to float its mobile operation next year, Reuters reported, citing a pair of unnamed sources. The firm has been working towards a flotation for a number of years, and such a move could even have come sooner, but it seems the time is now right.

The newswire notes that Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani last gave an update on his IPO plans in 2019, indicating that both Reliance Jio and the firm's retail group Reliance Retail would move towards a listing within five years.

While Reliance Retail is not there yet, Reuters said, its sources note that the parent company views Jio as a stable business and revenue stream, having become India's biggest mobile operator some time ago.

It's hard to argue with that. Reliance Jio Infocomm had just shy of 479 million mobile customers at the end of September, having added a net 19 million over the course of 12 months. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) puts its mobile market share at over 40%.

Jio itself highlighted an on-year ARPU increase of 7.4% to 195.1 rupees (US$2.3) in its fiscal Q2, buoyed by a tariff hike and stronger customer mix. And it also pointed to rapid 5G and fibre uptake. The telco's True5G service had 148 million customers as of the end of September, less than two years after it launched, and claimed 2.8 million fibre-connected homes at the same date.

The overall Jio Platforms business, the digital technology unit which houses the mobile unit, posted revenue growth of almost 18% in Q2 to INR371 billion ($4.4 billion), EBITDA jumped by the same amount to INR159 billion, and profit after tax rose by 23.4% to INR65.4 billion.

Reliance has yet to value Jio, even internally, Reuters said, but noted that Jefferies in July gave it an estimated IPO valuation of US$112 billion.

There is also no information as yet as to the size of the offer. All we know, as per one of the newswire's sources, is that the company is shooting for India's biggest ever IPO, a crown currently held by Hyundai, whose Indian unit carried out a record $3.3 billion offering earlier this year.

While Reliance is clearly at the stage of gauging interest in a Jio IPO, hence Reuters' information, the lack of firm information and decision-making means we shouldn't bank on it happening next year. Indeed, the sources point out that bankers have yet to be appointed and that projected timelines could still be subject to change.

However, given the firm footing on which Jio finds itself, plus the state of play with its network development – much of its 5G network building is behind it, but there's plenty still to do in the fibre space – this does seem to be a decent time to explore a listing. Doubtless there will be more information on this one in the not-too-distant future.