With Jio Platforms Ltd's listing on public markets drawing closer, Isha Ambani described how a moment during her college years around 2009–10 — when unreliable internet connectivity prevented her from submitting an assignment — set off a chain of discussions within the family that ultimately gave rise to Jio.
At a pre-IPO press briefing for Jio Platforms — an offering priced at a valuation exceeding Rs 30,200 crore, placing it among the largest public market listings the country has seen — Isha described conversations she and her brother Akash had about ensuring India kept pace in the digital arena, opening her remarks by saying she wanted to trace the origins of how Jio came to be.
The timing, as widely recalled, fell somewhere in the 2009–2010 window. Akash and Isha had been studying at a university in the United States, returning to their home city of Bombay — now known as Mumbai — during a break from their studies. A coursework submission via an online portal was pending at the time.
She told those present that when the time came to hand in the assignment, her internet connection had stopped working, leaving her unable to complete the submission. Isha said the episode prompted her to question why connectivity access in India lagged behind what people in Western countries routinely experienced, a disparity she said was worth examining openly.
Her twin brother Akash, who holds the position of Managing Director at Jio Platforms, held a conviction at that time that building a digital technology platform company was the path forward, she noted.
Reflecting on the decade that had passed since Jio's 2016 launch, Isha — a board director at Jio Platforms — noted how far the company had come by 2026. Isha Ambani outlined three pillars she attributed to Jio's development within Reliance's wider corporate framework: planning conceived with a long time horizon in mind, the ability to operate at a scale that she said could alter the financial structure of an entire industry, and a commitment to execution that, in her view, runs through the organisation at a foundational level.
Drawing on the legacy of her grandfather Dhirubhai Ambani, whose decision to list Reliance Industries on the stock exchange in 1977 shaped the conglomerate's trajectory, she wove that family history into her remarks. Isha conveyed that Reliance carried a meaning for her father that extended beyond commerce — it embodied a commitment to ensuring all Indians could share in the country's economic progress — and that this founding conviction, encapsulated in the idea that growth is life, continues to guide her alongside Akash and Anant Ambani into the third generation of the family.
At a price range spanning Rs 1,065 to Rs 1,119 per share, the Jio Platforms offering is designed to raise around Rs 30,213 crore should subscriptions reach the upper end of that band — an amount that would place it ahead of every other public listing the country has seen.