On June 17, 2026, NSE formally filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus with SEBI, ending a decade-long regulatory delay. At the same time, Reliance Jio is expected to file its draft prospectus imminently, potentially before the Reliance Industries AGM on June 19, 2026. Two of the most anticipated listings in Indian capital market history are arriving at roughly the same moment.
India's IPO market set for a historic week
This is not a typical week for Indian primary markets. Two listings of this scale arriving simultaneously would be unusual in any market. In India, where blockbuster IPOs have typically arrived one at a time, the convergence of the NSE and Jio filings is genuinely without precedent.
The Jio IPO alongside the anticipated IPO of the National Stock Exchange would reinforce confidence in India's primary market ecosystem following a relatively subdued and volatile first half of 2026. India's IPO market had been losing momentum through early 2026, weighed down by geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East and a domestic market correction. The NSE IPO filing is considered the anchor event for India's primary market in the second half of 2026, and a successful filing is likely to catalyse a broader revival in mainboard IPO activity. Whether the market absorbs both at once without disruption is the question investors are watching most carefully.
Reliance Jio IPO: what we know so far
Jio has been the most anticipated IPO in Indian corporate history for the better part of two years. Mukesh Ambani first formally signalled the intent at Reliance's August 2025 AGM, targeting a first-half 2026 listing. That timeline slipped, largely due to market conditions and a structural rethink of the issue.
In May 2026, Reliance revised the Jio IPO structure to an all-fresh issue, moving away from a previously planned OFS, after a valuation disagreement between Reliance and existing shareholders. That means the proceeds would go directly into Jio's business for debt repayment and capital expenditure on AI infrastructure and network expansion.
A regulatory change also helped clear the path, allowing companies valued above ₹5 lakh crore to list with a 2.5% public float instead of the earlier 10% minimum, making the DRHP process for Jio Platforms more manageable at such a scale.
Valuation expectations
Investment banks estimate Jio Platforms' post-IPO valuation at $133 to $180 billion. The fresh issue structure, however, may push the company toward a more conservative end of that range. Reliance is wary that aggressive pricing could lead to a weak listing and has consistently maintained that protecting retail investors remains a priority. At a 2.5% dilution, the IPO size is expected around ₹33,000 to ₹38,000 crore, which would make it the largest corporate IPO in Indian history by a significant margin.
Why investors are excited
Jio Platforms houses Jio's telecom network, which has more than 500 million subscribers, along with broadband services, enterprise cloud, digital content platforms and AI infrastructure. For FY26, Jio Platforms posted a 15% increase in net profit, and annual revenue from operations advanced 14.5% year-on-year. The listing would put a transparent public market value on Reliance's digital assets for the first time and give investors direct exposure to India's largest telecom and digital platform without going through the Reliance Industries parent.
NSE IPO: a decade-long wait nears completion
While Jio grabs the bigger headlines, the NSE listing is arguably the more structurally significant event for Indian capital markets. NSE first attempted to list in 2016. A co-location controversy, regulatory scrutiny, and governance concerns kept it in a holding pattern for nearly ten years.
SEBI issued NSE a no-objection certificate on January 30, 2026, followed by NSE board approval on February 6, 2026, clearing the path that had been blocked for the better part of a decade. The NSE DRHP filing was confirmed on June 17, 2026.
Why the NSE IPO is significant
NSE is not a typical company. It sits at the centre of India's financial system. Every day, millions of investors buy and sell shares through a platform that NSE owns and operates. Investing in NSE is effectively investing in the infrastructure behind India's stock market itself. NSE dominates its industry with a market share of roughly 93% in cash equities and nearly 100% in equity futures. That kind of structural dominance has very few parallels in Indian listed markets.
Proposed offer structure
The NSE IPO will be entirely an Offer for Sale, with no fresh issue of shares. Approximately 148.9 million equity shares, representing nearly 6% of the exchange's outstanding equity capital, will be sold by existing shareholders. NSE will not receive any proceeds from the issue. All proceeds go to the selling shareholders. Notably, LIC, Premji Invest, and investor Radhakishan Damani are not participating in the OFS and are expected to continue holding their stakes.
NSE's strong financial position
NSE's profit after tax stood at ₹10,302 crore in FY26. The business operates a high-margin, asset-light model. Once the infrastructure is built, the marginal cost of processing additional trades is minimal. NSE was holding more than ₹30,146 crore of broker margin and settlement funds as of March 2026, which it invests in safe instruments to generate additional income. The regulatory overhang from the co-location case is not fully resolved, but SEBI's no-objection certificate in January 2026 allowed the IPO to proceed, and NSE set aside ₹1,391 crore to cover potential liabilities related to these matters.
How big could these IPOs be compared to previous record holders?
To understand the scale of what is being filed this week, it helps to place both issues against what has come before.
The NSE issue size is estimated around ₹30,000 crore, which would eclipse the Hyundai Motor India issue of ₹27,870 crore by a significant margin, which is the largest Indian IPO on record until now. The Jio issue, at a 2.5% dilution on a valuation of $130 to $170 billion, would be larger still.
Neither issue has a confirmed price band yet. Both DRHP filings trigger SEBI's review process, which typically takes 30 to 75 days before an observation letter is issued. The actual subscriptions are months away. But the filings themselves set new benchmarks for what Indian capital markets are capable of hosting.
What these mega IPOs mean for investors
Two listings of this scale arriving in close succession creates both opportunity and considerations for investors thinking about how to participate.
On the opportunity side, both businesses are genuine franchises. Jio is the dominant telecom and digital platform in the world's most populous country. NSE is the exchange infrastructure that Indian equity markets run on. Neither is a growth-stage bet. Both have substantial, documented earnings.
The considerations are equally real. Jio is a fresh issue at a valuation that assumes continued strong growth in ARPU, 5G monetisation, and digital services expansion. The price band will determine whether the valuation leaves room for post-listing upside. NSE's pure OFS structure means no capital goes to the business, and investors are essentially buying a stake from exiting shareholders. The co-location regulatory matter, while partially addressed, is not fully behind the company.
For retail investors, the practical question is whether to apply for listing gains, for long-term holding, or both and to size the application accordingly.
Could this trigger a new IPO wave in India?
Large, high-quality offerings tend to attract global institutional investors and can enhance perceptions of market depth, liquidity and corporate confidence in India. If both listings proceed smoothly through SEBI review and list at or above their issue prices, the signal to other companies waiting to test the public market would be significant.
India had a pipeline of deferred IPOs through early 2026, companies that held back as geopolitical uncertainty weighed on market sentiment. A successful Jio and NSE listing could reopen that pipeline. The IPO calendar for late 2026 and into 2027 may look very different depending on how these two flag-bearers are received.
Conclusion
The simultaneous filing of the Jio and NSE DRHPs in the same week is an event Indian capital markets have not seen before. One is the country's largest and most valuable telecom and digital platform going public for the first time. The other is the exchange infrastructure that underlies Indian equity markets, finally completing a decade-long listing journey.
Both carry genuine risks alongside genuine scale. The SEBI review process will now play out over the coming months before either issue opens for subscription. Investors have time to read the documents carefully, understand the valuation frameworks, and decide what role, if any, each listing plays in their portfolios. That is the work worth doing now, before the subscription windows open.
