Reliance Taps Workers to Bolster Jio IPO

Reliance Industries released October salaries about 15 days early as Mukesh Ambani’s conglomerate encouraged employees to consider investing in Jio Platforms’ $3.2 billion initial public offering. Employees weren’t told why the money arrived early, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Reliance Industries didn’t immediately comment.

The company’s outreach reached most of its nearly 420,000 employees across group companies. Teams asked whether employees or family members had accounts for electronic share trading, then urged those without accounts to open them. The effort could bring employees, and potentially their families, into the IPO as shareholders. A vast workplace is now being put to work for the offering. Workers still weren’t told why their salaries arrived ahead of schedule.

A workforce brought into the offering

Reliance Industries had 419,911 employees as of June 30, making it the second-biggest workforce among India’s listed companies, behind Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That total includes 74,822 Jio employees, according to Jio’s website.

The route into the offering depends on which part of the conglomerate employs a worker. Jio employees can apply through the employee quota, while other Reliance workers can bid in the retail category. Employees who also hold shares in the parent company can bid through a portion reserved for those investors. This isn’t one uniform pool. Access is divided among employees, retail bidders and existing shareholders.

Company filings set aside up to ₹500 crore worth of shares for eligible employees, who receive a 5% discount. Up to ₹2,500 crore worth of shares are reserved for eligible Reliance Industries shareholders. The employee allocation is a fraction of the larger offering, and eligibility determines who can use it.

The numbers behind the IPO

Jio is targeting a valuation of up to ₹10.3 lakh crore ($108 billion) and aims to raise as much as ₹30,200 crore. It plans to offer up to 270 million shares, priced at ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 each. Those figures set the scale of the transaction, while the early salaries and workplace outreach show how the company is drawing its own workforce toward it.

The IPO subscription period is scheduled to open on October 21 and close on October 23, with the anchor book opening on October 19. Jio has drawn more than $20 billion in bids. People familiar with the matter said global investors including Fidelity Management & Research, Allianz SE and Capital Group have indicated interest.

There’s no account in the source of employees organizing a response, taking direct action or receiving an explanation for the accelerated pay. Instead, company teams asked workers about trading accounts and urged those without one to open an account. Reliance Industries didn’t immediately comment. The offer is pitched to institutional investors, shareholders, retail bidders and a workforce numbering nearly 420,000; the people whose salaries came early were left without a stated reason.