Jio Platforms aims to open a Rs 37,700 crore offer on 21 October

Jio Platforms is working toward a public offer of about Rs 37,700 crore, roughly 4 billion dollars, with the public book opening on 21 October, people familiar with the plan told the Economic Times. The same account puts the red herring prospectus after 12 October, the anchor book on 19 October, the close on 23 October, allotment on 26 October and listing on 28 October. The indicated price band is Rs 1,150 to Rs 1,220 a share. Emails to the company and to the lead bankers had not been answered when ET published.

Those dates are a timetable, not a cleared document. SEBI's observation letter of 28 August allowed a fresh issue of up to 27 crore shares, about 2.9 percent of the post-issue capital. It did not fix a price or a week. A red herring is the document that does both. Until it is filed, the band and the four October dates can still move. A person quoted by ET said Jio wants the formalities, including listing, done before 30 October. That is a preference stated to a newspaper, not a regulatory deadline.

The size is what makes the week matter. Rs 37,700 crore would be the largest Indian initial public offering on record if it comes at that amount. The August clearance earmarked a large share of proceeds, about Rs 27,500 crore in earlier filing language, to repay debt at Reliance Jio Infocomm. A book built at Rs 1,150 to Rs 1,220 on 27 crore new shares lands in that neighbourhood: 27 crore times Rs 1,150 is Rs 31,050 crore, and 27 crore times Rs 1,220 is Rs 32,940 crore. The Rs 37,700 crore figure ET cites is higher than that simple product, which means either a larger share count than the round 27 crore, a different mix of fresh issue and offer for sale, or a rounded dollar translation. The prospectus is the place that arithmetic gets settled.

Reliance would remain the controlling shareholder. Earlier filing papers put its holding at about 66 percent after a fresh issue of this size. Outside investors who came in before the offer, including the strategic names on the 2020 cap table, have their own decisions on whether to sell into the book. ET's account describes a fresh-issue heavy transaction. It does not give a final offer-for-sale split.

The calendar collides with the market's other October events. The Reserve Bank's policy rate is still 5.25 percent, the rupee was quoted at 96.43 to the dollar at 13:00 on Tuesday, and foreign portfolio investors sold Rs 4,699 crore of equities on Monday. A Rs 37,700 crore book in that tape needs anchors who will take stock on 19 October and hold through listing. The person familiar with the plan told ET the company wants the process finished before 30 October, which keeps the deal inside a window that includes the Dussehra break and avoids a November reopen.

What can still slip is the prospectus date. "After 12 October" is a window, not a filing. If SEBI sends the red herring back, the 19 October anchor and the 21 October open move with it. If the band is cut below Rs 1,150, the rupee size of the offer falls unless the share count rises. Neither adjustment is in the ET account. Both are ordinary in the last fortnight before a book opens.

Until the red herring is on the SEBI site, the public record is a cleared August issue size, an unanswered email, and a four-date October plan carried by people who are not named. The first hard document is the prospectus. The first hard price is the band printed on it.