Ambani Orgochem

Adds Reliance Jio revenue details in paragraph 8, retail IPO context in paragraph 12

By Amy-Jo Crowley, Jayshree P Upadhyay, Kane Wu and Aditya Kalra

LONDON/MUMBAI/HONG KONG, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Reliance Jio Platforms is considering an initial public offering this year that would float 2.5% of the company, people familiar with the matter said, a move that could make it the country's largest-ever IPO worth more than $4 billion.

The company, led by Mukesh Ambani, is the parent of India's largest telecom operator Reliance Jio - with more than 500 million users. Its debut is the country's most highly anticipated IPO this year.

In November, investment bank Jefferies estimated that Reliance Jio's valuation stood at $180 billion. At that valuation, a 2.5% stake sale would raise $4.5 billion, dwarfing Hyundai Motor India's HYUN.NS $3.3 billion IPO in 2024.

Over the past six years, Jio has diversified into artificial intelligence and raised funds from well-known investors including KKR KKR.N, General Atlantic, Silver Lake and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Reliance would like to list only 2.5% of Jio's shares given the large size of the company, the sources said, even though a proposal from India's market regulator to reduce the minimum size of share sales for large companies seeking IPOs to 2.5% from 5% is awaiting approval from the finance ministry.

"The preference is to list 2.5% at this point if the law gets changed as a smaller amount creates more pricing tension," one of the sources with direct knowledge said, adding that some bankers were pitching a valuation of $200 billion to $240 billion for the business, though Reliance hasn't decided on a firm number.

Reliance RELI.NS did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. The sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak publicly.

Typically around 75% to 80% of Jio Platforms annual revenues come from its telecoms business.

RED-HOT INDIAN IPO MARKET

It has not been decided if the Jio IPO would be a so-called offer-for-sale, which allows existing shareholders to sell their shares to the public, or if it would also involve the issuance of new stock. Hyundai's India IPO, for example, was an offer-for-sale and did not raise new funds.

The Jio listing would add to strong momentum in India's IPO market over the last couple of years; it ranked as the world's No. 2 primary equity issuance market in 2025, raising $21.6 billion as of December 18, according to LSEG data.

Reliance also plans to list its retail unit, but that is unlikely before 2027 or 2028, sources have previously told Reuters.

In 2019, Ambani first flagged plans to list Jio within five years. Last year, Reuters reported that he delayed the offering beyond 2025 as the company wanted a higher valuation by expanding into other niche digital businesses.

TWO BANKS WORKING ON PROSPECTUS

Reliance Jio is also set to lock horns with Elon Musk, who is expected to launch the Starlink internet service in India in the coming months. Jio has also partnered Nvidia NVDA.O to develop AI infrastructure.

In August, Ambani said Jio would list in the "first half of 2026". The listing timeline depends on market conditions, one of the sources said.

Although formal appointments have yet to be made, bankers from Morgan Stanley MS.N and India's Kotak are already working with Reliance on drafting the Jio IPO papers, which can be a drawn-out process, a fifth source with direct knowledge of the situation said.

Reliance is waiting for the 2.5% public float rule to be cleared by the finance ministry and the size of the sale could change in the coming months, the person added.

Reliance expects many foreign investors who invested in the company in recent years to seek an exit via the IPO, the person said.

Morgan Stanley and Kotak did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

(Additional reporting by Vibhuti Sharma; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Thomas Derpinghaus)

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Adds details on pricing for satellite spectrum in paragraph 3-5, background throughout

May 9 (Reuters) - India's telecom regulator has recommended allotting satellite spectrum for commercial communication services for five years, it said on Friday, at a time when Elon Musk is getting closer to launching his Starlink high-speed internet in the country.

The recommendation also includes a possibility to extend an initial five-year spectrum allocation by a further two years depending on market conditions, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)said.

The telecom watchdog also recommended charging telecom operators 4% of their adjusted gross revenue for geostationary orbit-based fixed satellite services and for mobile satellite services.

This is subject to a minimum annual spectrum charge of 3,500 rupees ($41) per megahertz (MHz), according to TRAI.

For non-geostationary orbit-based fixed satellite services, an additional 500 rupees per subscriber per annum in urban areas should be charged, exempting rural and remote areas, it said.

The recommendations come as Elon Musk is working towards launching Starlink in India. Musk has urged New Delhi to allot spectrum for 20 years to focus on "affordable pricing and longer-term business plans," according to Starlink's public submissions.

TRAI had agreed to demands for a lower licence time-frame to see how the sector grows, Reuters had reported in March, citing a government source.

Musk and Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani signed a partnership in March that would allow Starlink devices to be sold in Ambani's Reliance RELI.NS stores, giving it access to a large distributor.

Ambani and Musk had previously been rivals - Ambani's telco subsidiary had unsuccessfully lobbied New Delhi for months to auction spectrum rather than allot it administratively, as Musk wanted.

Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS, India's No. 2 telco, has also pushed for a three-to-five year period for the licence. Bharti Airtel and Musk have also signed a distribution deal for Starlink.

($1 = 85.3610 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru. Editing by Aidan Lewis, Mark Potter and Susan Fenton)

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By Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil

NEW DELHI, March 13 (Reuters) - India's telecom regulator plans to recommend that satellite broadband spectrum be allotted for around five years to assess initial market adoption, defying Elon Musk's Starlink, which is seeking a 20-year permit, said a senior government source.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is currently working on key recommendations to the federal government, including a time frame and pricing of satellite spectrum, which will be administratively allotted.

Musk and Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani forged a partnership this week that will allow Starlink devices to be sold in Ambani's Reliance RELI.NS stores, giving it large distribution access. They were rivals earlier - Ambani's telco subsidiary had unsuccessfully lobbied New Delhi for months to auction spectrum, and not allot it administratively as Musk wanted.

Starlink has pushed New Delhi to allot spectrum for 20 years to focus on "affordable pricing and longer-term business plans", while Reliance sought it for three years, after which it wants India to reassess the market, according to their public submissions.

Another Indian telco, Bharti Airtel, has also pushed for a 3-5 year period for the licence. Airtel and Musk have also signed a distribution deal for Starlink, like Ambani's Reliance.

TRAI plans to agree to demands for a lower licence time-frame "of around 5 years and then see how the sector grows," said the senior government source, who declined to be named as the decision-making process is confidential.

"This will help understand how the market stabilises, so there's no point going beyond five years," said the official.

An industry source familiar with licensing processes said the shorter time-frame will allow New Delhi to revise spectrum prices after five years as the market develops.

TRAI did not respond to Reuters queries. Airtel, Reliance and Starlink also did not immediately respond.

The government source added it will take about a month for the TRAI to finalise its recommendations on the licence time- frame and a per megahertz spectrum pricing, which will then be submitted to India's telecoms ministry for further action.

Musk's deals with Reliance and Airtel are subject to Starlink winning pending regulatory clearances in India, but came weeks after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Musk in Washington, where they discussed issues including space, mobility, technology and innovation.

Ambani has been worried that his telecom company, which spent $19 billion in airwave auctions, risks losing broadband customers to Starlink and potentially even data and voice clients later.

The satellite spectrum pricing "will be substantially lower" than traditional telecom licences, which are granted via auction for 20 years, the government official added.

KPMG estimates India’s satellite communication sector will grow more than 10 times in size to touch $25 billion by 2028.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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Dec 12 (Reuters) - Ambani Orgochem Ltd AMBN.NS:

• AMBANI ORGOCHEM - APPROVED ISSUE OF 1260,000 WARRANTS ON PREFERENTIAL BASIS

Source text: ID:nnAZN2TM4AL

Further company coverage: AMBN.NS

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NEW DELHI, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's Starlink is seeking security clearance for a licence to offer satellite broadband services in India and will get a permit if it satisfies all conditions, the telecoms minister said on Tuesday.

Starlink has been looking to enter India for years and its plans got a major boost last month when New Delhi said it wouldn't auction spectrum for satellite broadband but rather award it administratively - just as Musk wanted. Rival Indian telecom billionaire Mukesh Ambani had wanted an auction.

Indian telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Tuesday that Starlink was in the process of obtaining security clearance, which requires it to satisfy New Delhi that the company processes and stores data locally, and that its satellite signals are secure.

"When you check all the boxes, you get the licence. If they (Starlink) do that, we will be very happy," Scindia said at an event in New Delhi.

Security clearance would take Starlink one step closer to Musk's plans to offer broadband to Indians, a market Ambani's Reliance Jio currently dominates with 14 million wired subscribers.

Ambani, Asia's richest man, also has more than 479 million Indian telecom users, but is concerned that after spending $19 billion in airwave auctions, he now risks losing broadband customers and potentially data and voice clients to Musk as technology advances, Reuters has previously reported.

Reliance already has security clearance to launch satellite broadband services, according to a source with direct knowledge.

Starlink has told the Indian government it is willing to comply with all of New Delhi's security requirements, said another source familiar of the matter.

After security clearance is obtained, companies still need to obtain spectrum to start offering satellite broadband services.

Ambani once gave data for free on his mobile plans, and Musk has adopted similarly aggressive tactics. In Kenya, Musk priced Starlink at $10 per month, versus $120 in the United States, unsettling local telecom players.

(Reporting by Aditi Shah and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Mark Potter)

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Recasts with details, comments from executives

By Munsif Vengattil and Aditi Shah

BENGALURU, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Mukesh Ambani's Reliance pressed India's telecom watchdog on Friday to reconsider its plan not to auction satellite spectrum but to simply allocate it, in a fresh clash with Elon Musk's Starlink.

India's telecoms Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia last month said the government would allocate spectrum administratively in line with global trends but a final notification on how spectrum is given out will come after the telecom watchdog TRAI gives its feedback.

Musk's Starlink has expressed interest in launching in India following a successful launch in Africa which left local players bruised by low broadband prices and favours the government's approach to allocating spectrum.

Ravi Gandhi, a top Reliance policy executive, urged the telecom regulator TRAI on Friday, however, to review the decision, noting in an open house discussion hosted by TRAI that the move to allocate spectrum administratively is "the most discriminatory method of assigning any kind of government resource".

Starlink India executive Parnil Urdhwareshe on the other hand said India's allocation plan was "forward-looking".

Billionaire Ambani runs India's biggest telecom company, Reliance Jio. Analysts say a spectrum auction, requiring much more investment, would likely deter foreign rivals.

The TRAI's recommendations, which will be formed over coming weeks, will be critical in deciding the future course of how satellite spectrum is doled out.

Reliance, which has dominated India's telecom sector for years, is concerned that after spending $19 billion in airwave auctions it risks losing broadband customers to Musk, and potentially even data and voice clients later as technology advances, Reuters previously reported.

The methodology of giving out spectrum for satellite services in India has been a topic of contention between the billionaires.

Musk's Starlink, a unit of SpaceX, has 6,400 active satellites orbiting earth to provide low-latency broadband to 4 million customers.

Ambani once gave data for free on his mobile plans, but Musk is no stranger to such tactics.

In Kenya, Musk priced Starlink at $10 per month, versus $120 in United States, with rental plans available for higher hardware cost. Kenya's Safaricom in July complained to local regulators, calling for players like Starlink to be required to partner with mobile networks, and not operate independently.

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil, Aditi Shah and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Elaine Hardcastle)

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By Munsif Vengattil, Aditya Kalra and Aditi Shah

NEW DELHI, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Having just lost a battle with Elon Musk over how India's satellite spectrum is awarded, Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani could face a bigger challenge if Musk's Starlink launches services in India and the two go head-to-head on price.

India's government said on Tuesday it will allocate spectrum for satellite broadband administratively and not via auction, hours after Musk criticized the auction route being sought by rival billionaire Ambani as "unprecedented".

Musk's Starlink, a unit of SpaceX which has 6,400 active satellites orbiting earth to provide low-latency broadband to 4 million customers, has publicly expressed interest in launching in India, but its plans faced repeated regulatory roadblocks.

Ambani, who runs India's biggest telecom company, Reliance Jio, had tried since last year to seek a "balanced competitive landscape" and wanted to keep Musk at bay, as experts say a spectrum auction would have required much more investment and deterred foreign players.

Reliance, which has dominated India's telecom sector for years, is now concerned that after spending $19 billion in airwave auctions it risks losing broadband customers to Musk, and potentially even data and voice clients later as technology advances, a person with direct knowledge said on Thursday.

The Indian government says its decision to allocate spectrum administratively to whoever applies for it is in line with global trends.

It has not set a timeframe for when the process will start but Musk's Starlink has already applied for necessary permits. Starlink's entry into the Indian market would create a new battleground between the two billionaires: pricing.

Musk has thousands of operational satellites, while Reliance has partnered with Luxembourg-based SES Astra, which non-profit CelesTrak says has 38 satellites that Reliance plans to use.

"Starlink can price aggressively because it doesn't need to add more satellites," said Tim Farrar, a satellite industry analyst at U.S.-based TMF Associates.

Ambani once gave data for free on his mobile plans, but Musk is no stranger to such tactics which can unsettle local players.

In Kenya, Musk priced Starlink at $10 per month, versus $120 in United States, with rental plans available for higher hardware cost. Kenya's Safaricom SCOM.NR in July complained to local regulators, calling for players like Starlink to be required to partner with mobile networks, and not operate independently.

INDIA POTENTIAL

In India, a Reliance Jio fibre-based, high-speed broadband plan costs $10 per month, with router free on long-term plans. It has a 30% market share in the wired broadband market.

Starlink has plans to offer an unlimited internet data plan in India initially and target corporate clients, said a second industry source familiar with the matter.

Reliance and Starlink did not respond to Reuters queries.

With 42 million wired broadband internet users and 904 million telecom users on networks like 4G and 5G, India is the world's second-biggest telecom market after China.

Internet penetration in India stood at 52.4% as of early 2024, according to DataReportal and there are still 25,000 villages without internet. And even in urban cities, many areas don't have fibre-based fast internet offerings.

Musk said last year Starlink "can be incredibly helpful" in remote Indian villages or places that lack high-speed services, and his former India head in 2022 said Starlink at the time targeted 200,000 customers within eight months of launch.

Starlink has also announced plans to launch globally a constellation of hundreds of satellites to enable "direct to cell" voice and data services in coming years.

Gareth Owen, associate director at research firm Counterpoint, however, said some of the fears about Musk might be overstated, as "terrestrial networks will always be less expensive (and) businesses will never switch completely to satellite."

For now, even before the real battle starts on the ground, the Musk-Ambani rivalry is increasingly on display.

A Reuters report this week that Ambani was again lobbying New Delhi to auction satellite spectrum for a "level playing field" caught Musk's attention, after a social media user asked if Ambani was scared of Musk disrupting the Indian billionaire's telecom empire.

"I will call (Ambani) and ask if it would not be too much trouble to allow Starlink to compete to provide internet services to the people of India," Musk joked in a post on X in response.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra, Munsif Vengattil and Aditi Shah; Editing by Susan Fenton)

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By Dhwani Pandya

MUMBAI, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani wants the group to pioneer artificial intelligence solutions for India's urgent priorities including healthcare, education, agriculture and employment, the billionaire said on Thursday.

The 66-year-old said as Reliance reinvents itself to become a new age technology company it needs "to be at [the] forefront of using data, with AI as an enabler for achieving a quantum jump in productivity and efficiency."

Mukesh has led the transformation of Reliance from a traditional energy and material business company into a technology company over the last decade with the launch of its telecom and digital services.

Reliance, which was started by Mukesh's father Dhirubhai Ambani in 1957, now operates in telecoms, digital services, retail, oil and gas and new energy with a market value of more than $200 billion.

To supports its AI ambitions, in September Reliance signed a deal with U.S. chip firm Nvidia to develop cloud infrastructure and language models, as well as generative applications.

In his year-end address to employees on Thursday Mukesh urged them to bring AI-led transformation across the company's key growth engines including digital services, retail, oil and chemical business as well as health and life science by 2024.

Also on Thursday, Reliance rival Adani Group said that it had formed a joint venture with a unit of Abu Dhabi-based International Holding Co. (IHC) for deployment AI, Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain products. The joint venture aims to tap $175 billion India digitization opportunity.

(Reporting by Dhwani Pandya
Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

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PARIS, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Fashion group SMCP SMCP.PA, owner of French fashion labels Sandro and Maje, said on Thursday it signed a deal with Reliance to expand into India and will join other high-end European brands opening stores in the Jio World Plaza mall in Mumbai.

"There aren't a lot of accessible luxury fashion labels in India so we think it's time to be pioneering," said SMCP CEO Isabelle Guichot, citing India's wealth and growing population of younger generations among reasons for entering the country.

After years of testing the Indian market with outlets in luxury hotels, high-end European labels are seeking to expand their retail presence there to tap its strong economic growth and a rapid rise in the number of local millionaires.

SMCP did not disclose the financial terms of its partnership with Reliance Brands, which will become the exclusive distributor in India of Sandro and Maje. Reliance plans to open around 10 stores selling the SMCP brands in the next three to five years, said Guichot, starting with the mall in Mumbai developed by Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani.

Reliance Brands, a subsidiary of Ambani's Reliance Retail Ventures, has partnership deals with dozens of high-end European and American labels, including Bottega Veneta, Burberry, Valentino and Tiffany.

(Reporting by Mimosa Spencer; Editing by Tom Hogue)

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