India's Securities and Exchange Board of India has cleared Jio Platforms Ltd, the digital and telecommunications arm of Reliance Industries, to advance its initial public offering after issuing an observation letter on Friday, August 28. The approval lets the Akash Ambani-led company begin formal marketing, with a person familiar with the matter pointing to strong early interest from global sovereign and pension funds and a possible listing on Indian exchanges within the next couple of months. Jio Platforms is targeting about Rs 35,000 crore ($4 billion) through an entirely fresh issue of 270 million equity shares with a face value of Rs 10 each and no offer-for-sale, so gross proceeds would flow wholly to the company. At that scale the deal would surpass prior Indian IPO benchmarks from Hyundai Motor India and Life Insurance Corporation of India, as well as the proposed Rs 30,000 crore National Stock Exchange of India offering. Morgan Stanley and Citi Research have pegged the company's valuation near $133 billion, implying about 13 times estimated enterprise value to EBITDA for fiscal 2027. Up to Rs 27,500 crore of proceeds is earmarked to prepay borrowings at material subsidiary Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, with the remainder for general corporate purposes. Reliance Industries holds 66.43%, while Meta Platforms, Google and other global investors including KKR, Vista Equity Partners, Silver Lake, Mubadala, General Atlantic, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund are among the shareholders. The June 19 draft prospectus provides for a reservation for eligible Reliance shareholders, with the record date and quantum to be fixed in the red herring prospectus. In the quarter ended June, net profit rose 9.2% year on year to Rs 7,764 crore and operating revenue rose 11.8% to Rs 39,173 crore, though sequential profit eased 2.15% on higher finance costs and 5G-related depreciation. Reliance Jio remains the world's largest mobile operator by single-country base after China Mobile, with 524.4 million subscribers at end-March, and Chairman Mukesh Ambani has cast the listing as a major value-creation step for Reliance shareholders.