With a market capitalisation of Rs 1.66 lakh crore, Jio Financial Services (JFS) made its debut on the bourses on August 21 as the second-largest listed NBFC after Bajaj Finance.
As of the August 18 closing price, Bajaj Finance boasted of a market cap of Rs 4.15 lakh crore. Bajaj Finserv, which has a market cap of Rs 2.32 lakh crore, is more of a financial services holding company than an NBFC.
Market observers expected the listing Mcap for JFS to be much greater than the implied value of Rs 1.65 lakh crore as the shares were trading at a premium of Rs 50 in the grey market. Based on the grey market value, if the stock had listed at Rs 300, then its market cap would have worked out to Rs 1.9 lakh crore.
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What's more? The current market cap for Jio Financial Services is still greater than Nifty 50 giants like UPL, Hero MotoCorp and Apollo Hospitals. It has even trumped IndusInd Bank's market cap of Rs 1.06 lakh crore, Britannia's Rs 1.09 lakh crore and Tech Mahindra's Rs 1.17 lakh crore.
According to foreign broking firm Jefferies, JFS had a net worth of Rs 28,000 crore (FY22). This includes 6.1 percent stake in Reliance Industries, which is a result of transfer of treasury shares from the parent. Excluding the cost of that stake, the core net worth of the company may be about Rs 14,000 crore.
The Street is now keenly eyeing the JFS business model. While the company has already announced a 50:50 joint venture with Blackstone to enter the asset management industry, its lending business strategy is still under wraps. Most analysts believe that JFS will target the merchant loan space as RIL has wide reach in kirana stores.
With veteran banker KV Kamath as the non-executive chairman and former ICICI executive Hitesh Sethia as the CEO and MD, RIL's chairman Mukesh Ambani is confident that JFS will play crucial role in transforming India's digital finance landscape.
"Jio Financial Services Limited along with its subsidiaries will leverage the technological capabilities of Reliance and digitally deliver financial services, democratising access to financial services offerings for Indian citizens," Ambani said in his message to shareholders. It aims to provide simple, affordable and innovative digital first solutions, Ambani added.
Investors expect the conglomerate to share more details on JFS in its upcoming annual general meeting on August 28.
Disclosure: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.
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