Ambani’s secret game plan: Jio will create history with Project Jupiter, investors will become rich

In August last year, Mukesh Ambani had promised shareholders that Jio Platforms Ltd. Will try for listing in the stock market in the first half of 2026. But bringing Jio’s IPO was not that easy. Before launching this IPO, Reliance Industries had to make many efforts, which only a few people know about in the initial stages. Even if the shareholders were not aware of this, the country’s largest company Reliance Industries was trying to solve three problems behind the scenes.

Convincing regulators to relax IPO (Initial Public Offering) rules, convincing big investors to sell shares, and preparing the country’s biggest listing without disclosing its structure. Internally, the effort was called ‘Project Jupiter’, reflecting its large size and ambition, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity in the ET report.

For months, only a few Reliance executives and senior investment bankers were aware of how the deal was shaping up. Draft prospectuses, investor presentations and internal memorandums were mostly distributed in physical form. To avoid creating digital trails, email and other electronic communications were kept to a minimum, while meetings took place only at high levels.

Nine months later, when Ambani returned to the stage at Reliance’s annual shareholder meeting, he announced that Jio was ready to go public. Within hours, the company filed its draft prospectus. The bankers had been prepared for weeks and were just waiting for a signal.

Jio IPO timeline

1. August 2025 Ambani announced plans to list Jio in the first half of 2026.
2. September 2025 SEBI relaxed the minimum dilution rules for big IPOs.
3. October 2025 Reliance appointed Kotak and Morgan Stanley as bankers.
4. December 2025 Four more investment banks join the IPO syndicate.
5. Filing delayed while awaiting notification of changed rules for February 2026 IPO.
6. On March 13, 2026, the government issued notification of new minimum dilution rules.
7. 17 March 2026 Reliance expanded the syndicate to include 19 investment banks.
8. March 27, 2026 Filing postponed again due to weak market conditions.
9. May 2026 The structure of the IPO was changed from OFS to Primary Issuance.
10. 19 June 2026 Reliance filed draft prospectus for Jio’s IPO.

When did ‘Project Jupiter’ start?

Reliance had started ‘Project Jupiter’ by October. According to people with knowledge, this confidential initiative was led by senior executives, including Chief Financial Officer V. Srikanth, KR Raja and Jio executive Anshuman Thakur. Before the expansion of the syndicate in December, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company and Morgan Stanley were the first investment banks to be included in the project. Although Banks had begun work, he was not officially appointed until December. According to people associated with the process, this unique arrangement allowed advisors to work on the transaction even when it was still being prepared.

There were no less challenges

One of the biggest challenges faced by the company was to obtain consent from the existing shareholders. Those people told that KKR & Co., Meta Platforms Inc., Alphabet Inc. And other investors ultimately agreed to reduce their stake by about 8 percent on a pro-rata basis, allowing the company to meet the public float requirements while maintaining its relative ownership. The regulatory environment was also changing. In September, India’s securities regulator relaxed minimum stake requirements for companies with a valuation of more than Rs 5 trillion ($53 billion), reducing the limit from 5 percent to 2.5 percent. The government released official notice of these changes in March, removing a major hurdle to transactions.

IPO structure changed

The structure of IPO also changed. Reliance had initially planned an ‘offer-for-sale’ in which existing investors would sell about 2.8 per cent of Jio’s stake, while the company itself would not sell any shares. But those people said that in view of the weak stock market and the impact of falling rupee on dollar returns, some shareholders objected to the proposed valuation. Also, the Indian government was taking steps to retain foreign capital in the country.

Eventually, Reliance completely converted the IPO into a ‘primary issue’, so that the approximately $4 billion raised from it remained with the company and remained in India. The prospectus was filed on June 19, involving 19 advisors. Ambani was born on April 19, a numerical similarity that certainly caught the attention of those involved in the process.