India's biggest share sales tell the story of a country glued to its phones
India's largest stock exchange and its biggest telecoms operator will both go public by the end of this year in what experts say could be
India's largest stock exchange and its biggest telecoms operator will both go public by the end of this year in what experts say could be landmark listings for the country's capital markets. Jio Platforms, the digital arm of billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, and the Stock Exchange (NSE) - the world's largest derivatives exchange and among the top three equity exchanges by trading volume - filed draft papers for their initial public offerings just days apart last month.
Jio is expected to mop up around $4bn (£3.02bn) from the market at an estimated valuation of $120-160bn, while NSE's issue will reportedly offer 6% equity for $3.3bn, valuing the bourse at $57bn. Beyond the unprecedented scale of the offerings - which could take India's overall market capitalisation up by several notches - investors are closely watching the listings because they represent the sweeping changes in the way Indians have come to live, consume, invest and transact in the last decade, Yatin Singh, CEO - Investment Banking at Emkay Global, told the BBC.
"These are unique businesses which don't get built often. NSE is a direct proxy of the 'financialisation' of Indian household savings into mutual funds and stocks, while Jio is the story of a company that single handedly ushered
in a digital revolution, becoming a driving factor for several new-age Indian businesses," said Singh. "Their listings could be seminal for the Indian markets in the way the marquee offerings of software companies became many decades ago," he adds.
The BriefWire