Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani listed his subsidiary Jio Financial Services on Monday, with share prices falling by 5 per cent in their trading debut to give the company a valuation of $19bn.
Last month, Reliance Industries carved out JFS as a non-bank financial services company, setting the stock price at Rs261.85 during a special discovery session to value the company at around 1.7tn rupees ($20.5bn). Shares fell 5 per cent in the first session, hitting their limit.
The drop on the first day of trading reflected investor scepticism about the company, which has yet to lay out details of how it plans to compete against dominant players, such as Bajaj Finance. Analysts expect JFS to buttress the Indian conglomerate’s digital and retail growth through lending, insurance and asset management.