Mukesh Ambani is turning Reliance Industries' scale into a selling tool, nudging staff across the group to look at Jio Platforms' listing, people familiar with the outreach said. Teams checked whether employees and their families have the accounts needed to trade shares electronically and urged those without them to open one.
To make participation easier, Reliance paid October salaries about 15 days ahead of the usual schedule, the people said, adding that employees were not told why the pay arrived early. A Reliance Industries representative did not immediately offer comment.
Reliance Industries employs 419,911 people, the second largest workforce among India's listed firms after Tata Consultancy Services, per Bloomberg data. Jio itself lists 74,822 employees on its website. Jio staff can apply under the employee quota, other Reliance workers would bid in the retail category, and employees who also hold Reliance Industries shares can use the portion reserved for such shareholders.
According to the filings, as much as 5 billion rupees worth of stock is earmarked for eligible employees at a 5% discount. The documents also reserve as much as 25 billion rupees of stock for eligible Reliance Industries shareholders.
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The IPO plans up to 270 million shares at 1,065 to 1,119 rupees each. That price band implies Jio could be valued at as much as 10.3 trillion rupees, or about $108 billion, with proceeds potentially reaching 302 billion rupees. The anchor book opens Oct. 19, and subscriptions run Oct. 21 to Oct. 23. The listing is on track to be India's largest ever.
Early appetite looks strong. According to people familiar, bids for Jio have reached more than $20 billion, with global investors such as Fidelity Management & Research, Allianz SE and Capital Group signaling interest.
A mega deal with built-in employee participation can add breadth to the order book and support trading on debut, while reserved tranches and discounts influence allocation. Watch three gauges for pricing power and aftermarket support - employee take-up, the shareholder reservation, and the anchor book.
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