Reliance Jio slashes capex spend even as revenue gets a boost

Reliance Jio has significantly reduced its capital expenditure intensity over the past two years, dropping from nearly 49% of revenue in 2024 to just 23% by March 2026, according to the company's draft red herring prospectus filed with the regulator today.

The telecom operator spent ₹34,184.3 crore on capital expenditure in FY26, down from ₹44,268 crore the previous year and ₹53,509.6 crore in FY24. Meanwhile, revenue from operations rose to ₹1,46,885.3 crore in FY26, up from ₹1,28,218.4 crore in FY25 and ₹1,09,558.1 crore in 2024.

In 2024, Jio invested ₹53,509.6 crore against revenue of ₹1,09,558 crore, that is, nearly half of every rupee earned went back into building and upgrading network infrastructure. The following year saw capex decline to ₹44,268 crore even as revenue climbed to ₹1,28,218 crore, improving operational efficiency.

The improvement marks a shift from Jio's earlier growth phase, when the company invested heavily in building out its network infrastructure.

An aggregate amount of up to ₹27,500 crore from the net proceeds of the IPO is proposed to be utilised towards prepayment, in full or in part, of the principal amount outstanding of certain borrowings availed by Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, a subsidiary of the company.

RJio, as of FY26, controls 60% of India’s wireless data traffic on its network, thus emerging as the largest digital connectivity player with 1.4 times the 4G+5G subscribers compared to the second largest player [Bharti Airtel] in India.

As of March 2025, of its total customer base of 524.4 million customers, it has 268.5 million 5G consumers on its network, which represents a premium consumer base with a propensity to adopt new digital services products faster, states the DRHP.

Approximately 46% of data consumed on its network is from rural areas; and 63% and 37% of fixed broadband customer additions were added to its network from urban and rural areas, respectively.

The prospectus states that the company’s “current focus areas for technology related investments include research and development to maintain our technology leadership, with a focus on 6G research, AI-driven network automation through JioBrain, cloud-native platform evolution, and new digital service development.”

As of March 2026, the company and its subsidiaries have applied for 6,817 patents, across 4G, 5G, 6G cloud-native core network architectures, AI-driven network automation, and other digital technologies within India and outside India. Of these, 2,393 patent applications have been filed in India and 4,424 patent applications across foreign jurisdictions.