- Jio Makes Money From Millions of Everyday Connections
- India's Internet Use Is Growing, But Jio Must Capture the Value
- Jio Looks Stronger Than Peers, But Airtel Sets the Benchmark
- Author's Take: Should You Apply For This IPO?
Jio Platforms is coming to the market with something most companies cannot claim: enormous scale. It serves 53.33 crore customers, carries around 60% of India's wireless data traffic, and has built a nationwide 4G and 5G network.
That makes this IPO less about whether Jio has a large business. It clearly does. The more important question is whether Jio can turn this scale into better returns on the huge amount of capital already invested in its network, spectrum and broadband infrastructure.
At 34.33x FY26 earnings, Jio is valued below Bharti Airtel's 37.5x. That relative discount makes the IPO interesting, but it does not automatically make it cheap. Investors still need to understand what drives Jio's earnings and whether its future growth can justify the price.
Jio Makes Money From Millions of Everyday Connections
At its simplest, Jio is a connectivity business. Customers pay monthly for mobile data, calls and other services. The company also earns from home broadband, devices and technology services offered to businesses.
Its core telecom operations sit within Reliance Jio Infocomm, which contributed 87.74% of consolidated revenue in FY26. This concentration matters because the wider Jio Platforms story ultimately depends heavily on the performance of its main telecom business.
The economics are becoming stronger. Revenue reached ₹1,46,885 crore in FY26, while EBITDA, a measure of operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, reached ₹76,255 crore. The EBITDA margin was 51.91%.
Jio is also earning more from each customer. ARPU, or average monthly revenue per user, increased from ₹181.7 in FY24 to ₹214 in FY26 and ₹215.6 in Q1 FY27. Monthly data usage reached 43.7 GB per user.
This is important because Jio does not necessarily need millions of new customers to grow. Higher spending from its existing base can also increase revenue.
The company is using the IPO proceeds largely to reduce borrowings at RJIL. That could lower interest costs and leave more cash available for future investment. Investors can also explore other mainboard IPOs when comparing Jio with other large IPO opportunities.
India's Internet Use Is Growing, But Jio Must Capture the Value
The opportunity is larger than mobile connections alone. India's mobile connectivity market is projected to increase from ₹2.9 lakh crore in FY26 to ₹5.2 lakh crore by FY31. The fixed broadband market is also expected to expand sharply as more Indian households move to high-speed internet.
Jio is already in a strong position to capture this growth. It has a 49.78% share of wireless broadband and 43.32% of fixed broadband. Its 2.86 crore fixed broadband customers are complemented by 1.4 crore JioAirFiber users.
The latter is particularly important. JioAirFiber accounted for 61.73% of India's net fixed broadband additions in Q1 FY27. This gives Jio another way to monetise its network beyond traditional mobile services.
Its spectrum holdings also support this position. Jio has 26,800.8 MHz of spectrum and is the only Indian operator with low, mid and high-frequency 5G spectrum across all circles. Combined with its nationwide network, this gives it significant capacity to handle rising data consumption.
But industry growth alone is not enough. Jio has to earn attractive returns from the infrastructure it has already built. Its RoCE, or return on capital employed, was 10.76%, compared with 19% for Airtel. That gap is important: Jio has enormous assets and strong earnings, but it still has to improve how efficiently those assets generate returns.
There is also a large financial commitment sitting behind the network. Jio had ₹1.04 lakh crore of deferred spectrum payment obligations as of June 30, 2026. These payments are spread over many years, but they still require consistent cash generation.
Jio Looks Stronger Than Peers, But Airtel Sets the Benchmark
Bharti Airtel is the most useful listed comparison because it is Jio's closest large telecom peer. Vodafone Idea is less useful for judging business quality because its reported P/E is distorted by a large exceptional gain.
Jio's FY26 operating revenue of ₹1,46,885 crore was below Airtel's ₹2,10,973 crore. Yet Jio generated ₹30,049 crore of profit, close to Airtel's ₹33,823 crore. Its 20.46% profit margin was also higher than Airtel's roughly 16%.
The difference becomes even clearer on leverage. Jio's bank net debt-to-EBITDA stood at just 0.36x, compared with 1.36x for Airtel and 7.75x for Vodafone Idea. In simple words, Jio carries much less net bank debt relative to its operating earnings.
Valuation, however, is where the IPO becomes more interesting. Jio's 34.33x P/E is roughly 8% below Airtel's 37.5x.
That discount appears reasonable at first because Jio has strong margins, lower net leverage, and a huge customer base. But Airtel earns a higher RoCE, showing that it currently converts its invested capital into operating returns more efficiently.
So investors are not simply choosing between a cheap and an expensive telecom company. They are choosing between Jio's scale, margins and balance-sheet strength and Airtel's stronger capital efficiency.
That is why the valuation needs to be judged alongside future monetisation, not P/E alone. Investors who want a broader framework for assessing such trade-offs can refer to INDmoney's guide on how to analyse an IPO.
Author's Take: Should You Apply For This IPO?
Jio Platforms presents a balanced but positive IPO case. The strongest part of the story is the combination of scale and profitability. With 53.33 crore customers, a 51.91% EBITDA margin and ₹30,049 crore of FY26 profit, Jio has already built a business of enormous size.
The valuation also looks reasonable relative to Airtel. At 34.33x earnings, Jio enters at a discount to Airtel's 37.5x P/E, while carrying substantially lower bank net leverage.
The key concern is what happens from here. Jio has invested heavily in 5G, fiber and spectrum, yet its RoCE of 10.76% remains well below Airtel's 19%. Its ₹1.04 lakh crore of deferred spectrum obligations also mean that strong cash generation remains important.
Jio's valuation appears reasonable relative to Airtel, but the key question is whether it can translate its enormous customer base and network investments into higher ARPU, growing broadband revenue and better returns on capital. The discount to Airtel provides a useful valuation reference, but the company's ability to improve capital efficiency will be critical to how its performance evolves over the long term.
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