Ahead of the much-awaited initial public offering (IPO) of Jio Platforms Ltd, the digital and telecom arm of Reliance Industries, Isha Ambani revealed how a failed attempt at uploading a college assignment back in 2009-10 because the “internet did not work” sparked the conversations that eventually led to the creation of Jio. Addressing a press conference ahead of the Jio Platforms’ IPO, at a cap price that works out to over Rs 30,200 crore and India’s largest public market offering so far, Isha recalled how she and her brother Akash started deep conversations about why India should not be left behind in the digital space.
“Let me begin by telling you the story about how Jio was born. It was about 2009-2010. Akash and I were in college in the States, and we were back home in Bombay (Mumbai) for a break. And I had an assignment to submit online. I tried to submit the assignment, but unfortunately, the internet did not work, and I couldn’t submit it,” she said.
Isha said the incident sparked deep conversations about why India should be left behind in the digital space.
“Why was it that we didn’t have the same type of connectivity that we enjoyed in the West?’ she said.
Digital technology platform company
Akash, she said, referring to her twin brother and current Managing Director of Jio Platforms, firmly believed then that the answer was to create a digital technology platform company.
“Akash firmly believed that the answer and solution to this was creating a digital technology platform company. In 2016, Jio launched, and here we are today in 2026,” said Isha, who is a director on the board of Jio Platforms.
Extension of the Reliance philosophy
Isha Ambani described Jio’s journey as an extension of Reliance’s philosophy of building businesses: ideas backed by a long-term perspective, scale that can change an industry’s economics, and execution that is “hard-coded” into the organisation.
She also invoked her grandfather Dhirubhai Ambani, who took Reliance Industries public in 1977. For him, she said, Reliance was never just a company but a promise that every Indian should share in the country’s growth and prosperity.
“Three generations later,” Isha said, she, Akash, and brother Anant Ambani remain committed to the motto “Growth is life”.
Jio Platforms has set a price band of Rs 1,065 to Rs 1,119 per share for its initial public offering, which could raise about Rs 30,213 crore at the top of the range, making it India’s largest.
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