If Jio Platforms lists on the Bombay Stock Exchange today, it will be the 5th most-valued company in the country, just behind biggies like its parent Reliance Industries (Rs 10.49 lakh crore), TCS (Rs 7.64 lakh crore), HDFC Bank (Rs 5.59 lakh crore) and Hindustan Unilever (HUL) (Rs 4.8 lakh crore).
In the past two months, 11 tech investors have pumped in money into Jio Platforms at a valuation of Rs 4.91 lakh crore considering its huge potential to catapult the e-commerce and tech space in India.
The valuation of Rs 4.91 lakh crore put its ahead of companies such as Housing Development Finance Corp (m-cap Rs 3.2 lakh crore), Bharti Airtel (Rs 3.04 lakh crore), Infosys Ltd (3.04 lakh crore), and Kotak Mahindra Bank (Rs 2.57 lakh crore).
The latest to invest is Saudi Arabia-based Public Investment Fund (PIF), which put in Rs 11,367 crore for 2.32 per cent equity stake in Jio Platforms. PIF's fund infusion also marks the end of Reliance Industries' current phase of induction of financial partners.
The RIL group company has raised Rs 1.68 lakh crore in total from a series of investors, including the likes of Facebook Inc, Vista Equity and KKR, and rights issue.
Jio Platforms raised Rs 1,15,693.95 crore from leading global investors including Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, ADIA, TPG, L Catterton and PIF since April 22.
It also raised funds worth Rs 53,124.2 crore via rights issue concluded recently.
RIL has used the cash flow from its flagship petroleum refining business to build the telecom and retail subsidiaries over the years. Now, Jio's success has helped Reliance overcome the biggest challenge it faced - high debts. Reliance had a net debt of Rs 1,61,035 crore as on March 31, 2020. Mukesh Ambani had promised shareholders during the company's annual general meeting in August 2019 that he would turn the company debt-free by March 2021.
But with these key investments, Ambani has achieved the target much before the deadline.
"I have fulfilled my promise to the shareholders by making Reliance net debt-free much before our original schedule of 31st March 2021," Ambani said today, while vowing to achieve even more ambitious growth goals.
Since RIL has become net debt-free now, it aims to list both Jio Platforms and Reliance Retail, for which it has set a five-year deadline.
JPL was created as a subsidiary of RIL in October last year to bring together all digital and mobility businesses under one roof. The new entity has become the parent of Reliance Jio Infocomm and applications like MyJio, JioTV, JioCinema, JioNews and JioSaavn, besides content-generation ventures.
Read: It's raining cheques for Ambani! Saudi Arabia-based PIF to invest Rs 11,367 crore in Jio Platforms