The Jio Platforms IPO was fully subscribed within two hours of opening on 21 October 2026. At 10:40 AM, our tracker showed bids for 20.03 crore shares against the 19.75 crore on offer, or 1.01x. Bidding had started at 9 AM, so the ₹30,213 crore issue was covered in 1 hour 40 minutes.
Institutions did almost all of the work. Qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), meaning banks, insurers, mutual funds and foreign funds, had bid 3.25 times their quota by 10:40 AM. Retail investors were at 0.23x. Bidding stays open until 23 October, so these are first-morning numbers, not the final book.
How the first two hours went
The book filled fast from the first minutes. Exchange figures quoted by outlets and our own tracker line up closely:
| Time on 21 October | Overall subscription | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 9:45 AM | 0.58x | BSE data, as reported by Inc42 |
| 10:00 AM | 0.83x | CNBC-TV18 |
| 10:30 AM | 0.91x | IPO Guru tracker |
| 10:40 AM | 1.01x | IPO Guru tracker |
The QIB portion was covered first. CNBC-TV18 reported that it was fully subscribed within the first 30 minutes and stood at 2.86x by 10 AM.
Who is bidding
Here is the category split at 10:40 AM, the moment the issue crossed 1x. The figures exclude the anchor book, which was allotted on 19 October.
| Category | Shares offered | Shares bid | Times subscribed |
|---|---|---|---|
| QIB (institutional buyers) | 4.90 crore | 15.91 crore | 3.25x |
| NII (non-institutional), total | 3.64 crore | 94.3 lakh | 0.26x |
| bNII (bids above ₹10 lakh) | 2.43 crore | 46.3 lakh | 0.20x |
| sNII (bids of ₹2 lakh to ₹10 lakh) | 1.21 crore | 41.4 lakh | 0.37x |
| Retail | 8.50 crore | 1.94 crore | 0.23x |
| Reliance shareholders | 2.23 crore | 97.2 lakh | 0.44x |
| Employees | 46.9 lakh | 26.8 lakh | 0.57x |
| Total | 19.75 crore | 20.03 crore | 1.01x |
Inside the QIB book, domestic financial institutions such as banks and insurers bid for 12.51 crore shares. That is about four in every five QIB shares bid. Foreign investors bid for 2.97 crore shares, up from 1.28 crore at 9:45 AM as per Inc42. Mutual funds bid for just 17.9 lakh shares in the open book. Many of them had already taken shares in the anchor round, according to Inc42.
At the upper price of ₹1,119, the bids on the table at 10:40 AM were worth about ₹22,418 crore. QIBs alone accounted for about ₹17,804 crore of that.
What "fully subscribed" does and does not mean
Crossing 1x means bids now cover every share in the public book. It does not mean every category is covered. Retail, non-institutional, shareholder and employee portions were all still under 1x at 10:40 AM.
For a retail investor, the number to watch is different. The retail quota holds 8.50 crore shares, which works out to about 70.86 lakh lots of 12 shares. Under SEBI's rules, retail shares are spread so that as many applicants as possible get at least one lot. A lottery decides only when valid retail applications run past the number of lots available. One lot costs ₹13,428 at the upper band.
What our data shows
At ₹30,213 crore, Jio is the largest of the 105 mainboard IPOs in 2026, and Inc42 notes it is bigger than Hyundai Motor India's ₹27,870 crore issue. The median mainboard IPO this year closed at 24.96x, so 1.01x on the first morning is only a starting point. For scale, Paytm's ₹18,300 crore IPO in 2021 was subscribed 18% on its first day, as per Business Standard.
Our tracker had the grey market premium at ₹276, or 24.66%, at 10:12 AM, up from ₹221 on 16 October. The grey market is an unofficial dealer quote, not an exchange price. On the last 10 mainboard listings, the final GMP missed the actual listing gain by 11.18 percentage points on average.
What happens next
Bidding closes at 5 PM on 23 October 2026. The basis of allotment is due on 26 October, refunds and demat credit on 27 October, and listing on BSE and NSE on 28 October. KFin Technologies is the registrar.
We update the Jio Platforms IPO subscription status through the day as the exchanges publish new figures. The price band, lot size and the business are covered in our opening-day story, and the day-by-day grey market quote is on the Jio Platforms IPO GMP page.
Frequently asked questions
How fast was the Jio Platforms IPO fully subscribed?
In about 1 hour 40 minutes. Bidding opened at 9 AM on 21 October, and our tracker showed 1.01x at 10:40 AM.
What is the Jio Platforms IPO retail subscription on day 1?
Retail stood at 0.23x at 10:40 AM, with bids for 1.94 crore shares against 8.50 crore reserved.
When is the Jio Platforms IPO listing date?
Shares are due to list on BSE and NSE on 28 October 2026, after allotment on 26 October.
