Reliance Industries’ digital arm Jio Platforms has appointed Akash Ambani as its MD for a period of five years, effective April 9, 2026, ahead of its much-anticipated IPO.

According to MCA filings, the appointment was approved unanimously at a meeting of Jio Platforms’ board on April 9. The development was first reported by Mint.

“… Akash M. Ambani (DIN: 06984194), be and is hereby appointed as managing director of the company, for a period of 5 (five) years with effect from April 09, 2026,” the resolution stated.

Akash Ambani, the eldest son of Reliance Industries CMD Mukesh Ambani, has been deeply involved in the group’s telecom and digital businesses for more than a decade. He joined Reliance Jio Infocomm as a non-executive director in 2014 after graduating in economics from Brown University, and later took over as the chairman of the telecom arm in June 2022.

Mukesh Ambani currently chairs Jio Platforms, while his children Akash, Isha and Anant are on the company’s board. Kiran Thomas serves as the CEO of Jio Platforms.

The development comes at a time when Jio Platforms is reportedly reworking the structure of its public offering. While the issue was earlier expected to be largely an offer-for-sale (OFS), reports suggest the company is now exploring a fresh issue route amid differing views among shareholders over valuation and pricing.

According to reports, some investors want Jio Platforms to go public at a higher valuation, while Reliance Industries is being cautious about pricing the IPO too aggressively to avoid weak listing-day performance. The company has also reportedly been in talks with global tech companies, sovereign wealth funds and private equity firms to finalise the structure and pricing of the IPO.

The IPO plans got back on track after the finance ministry relaxed public shareholding norms for large IPOs earlier this year. Earlier, reports suggested that Jio Platforms was planning a $4 Bn (about ₹36,100 Cr) public issue, with bankers valuing the company between $200 Bn and $240 Bn, although the final details are yet to be decided.

Since entering the telecom market in 2016, Jio has rapidly grown into one of India’s largest digital and telecom players. Its aggressive pricing strategy, coupled with free voice and data plans in the early years, disrupted the sector and boosted internet adoption across the country.

Over time, Jio Platforms expanded beyond telecom into areas such as cloud infrastructure, AI, enterprise services and digital applications. In 2023, Reliance partnered with Nvidia to develop AI infrastructure and language models for India.

The company has also drawn strong interest from the likes of global investors over the years. In 2020, Jio Platforms raised more than $20.5 Bn from investors such as Meta, Google, KKR, Silver Lake and General Atlantic at valuations ranging between $57 Bn and $65 Bn.

Reliance Industries currently owns a 66.43% stake in Jio Platforms. Other investors in the company include Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Meta, Google, KKR and Silver Lake.

On the financial front, Jio Platforms’ net profit rose 13% to ₹7,935 Cr in Q4 FY26 from ₹7,023 Cr in the corresponding quarter last year. Sequentially, profit rose 4% from ₹7,629 Cr. Operating revenue rose 12.6% to ₹38,259 Cr from ₹33,986 Cr in Q4 FY25, while also increasing 2.7% quarter-on-quarter.

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