MUMBAI — Jio Platforms, the telecoms and digital arm of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, drew bids worth about 30 times the shares set aside for anchor investors on Monday, as global funds lined up for what is set to be India's biggest initial public offering.

Bids totalled almost 30 times the anchor quota, and Fidelity, Singapore's GIC, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and BlackRock were among the institutions taking part, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Press Trust of India, citing people privy to the deal, put demand for the 81.1 billion rupee anchor book at about 2.5 trillion rupees, or roughly $26 billion, more than 30 times the amount on offer.

The response points to strong appetite among large institutions for Jio at the price Reliance has set. Anchor investors are allotted shares before an offering opens to the public, and their demand is closely watched as a guide to the wider book, although it does not guarantee how other investor categories will subscribe.

Jio is seeking up to 302 billion rupees, or about $3.2 billion, by selling 270 million new shares at 1,065 to 1,119 rupees each. At the top of that range the company would be valued at $108.3 billion, Reuters reported. The public offer opens on Wednesday and closes on Friday, Oct. 23.

Other global bidders included Capital Group, T. Rowe Price, Schroders, JPMorgan Asset Management, Franklin Templeton, Invesco and Janus Henderson, along with the Qatar Investment Authority and Norway's Norges Bank Investment Management, according to PTI. Mutual funds run by SBI, ICICI Prudential, HDFC, Aditya Birla Sun Life, Nippon India and Kotak Mahindra also bid, as did Life Insurance Corporation of India and several private insurers and pension funds, the agency said.

Reliance did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. ADIA, BlackRock, Fidelity and GIC did not immediately respond either. The demand figures come from unnamed sources and have not been confirmed by the company, and Indian companies usually disclose their final anchor allocations through the stock exchanges once the book closes.

The sale will be India's largest IPO in rupee terms, CNBC reported, though in dollar terms it falls just short of the $3.3 billion raised by Hyundai Motor India in 2024. Market intelligence firm Prime Database had estimated that Jio would raise around 377 billion rupees, according to CNBC, so the final size came in well below early expectations.

The valuation also landed below earlier talk. Jio had been expected to seek a valuation of about 11 trillion rupees, but fund managers at global roadshows questioned its proposed premium over Bharti Airtel and its plans to earn money from digital services beyond telecoms, Bloomberg News reported, according to Business Today. At the top of the band, Jio would be worth less than Airtel, which had a market value of $117.5 billion based on LSEG data cited by CNBC.

Deven Choksey, managing director of Mumbai-based DRChoksey Finserv, told CNBC that Jio remains a telecom company at its core. Its entertainment and gaming apps push up data consumption, he said, but most of its revenue still comes from selling internet data.

Most brokerages have backed the issue. Mirae Asset Sharekhan, which recommended that long-term investors subscribe, said average revenue per user rose from 181.7 rupees in fiscal 2024 to 215.6 rupees in the April-June quarter, and put the offer at 34 times fiscal 2026 earnings. "With the 5G rollout largely complete, the capex intensity is easing, supporting stronger cash flow generation and profitability," the brokerage said in its IPO note, as quoted by Business Today.

Jio had 533.3 million subscribers as of June and carries nearly 60% of India's data traffic, according to company figures cited by PTI. Reliance owns more than 66% of the company, while Meta affiliate Jaadhu Holdings holds nearly 10% and Google 7.7%, according to LSEG data cited by CNBC. Neither Meta nor Google is selling shares in the offer.

Because the issue consists only of new shares, the money goes to Jio itself. Kotak Neo reported that 275 billion rupees will be used to repay or prepay borrowings, and Outlook Money said that debt sits with Jio's telecom unit, Reliance Jio Infocomm, with the balance set aside for general corporate purposes.

The offer reserves shares worth up to 25 billion rupees for eligible Reliance Industries shareholders and up to 5 billion rupees for employees, who get a discount of 54 rupees a share, according to Outlook Money.

The listing is the first major Reliance transaction led independently by Ambani's son Akash, according to Business Today. It comes nearly 50 years after Reliance's own November 1977 IPO, which raised 28 million rupees from about 58,000 investors, and follows a weak run for the parent's stock, which has fallen 23% in 2026 amid a broader sell-off, the magazine said.

Jio is also preparing satellite internet services, which has placed it in the middle of a public dispute between Ambani and Elon Musk. Musk accused Ambani this month of blocking Starlink's launch in India to maintain his "monopolistic exploitation" of the Indian market, CNBC reported.

Retail investors can bid for a minimum of 12 shares from Wednesday. Shares are due to be allotted on Oct. 26, with trading on the BSE and the National Stock Exchange expected to begin later that week.