MUMBAI: The equity shares of Jio Financial Services Ltd or JFSL(formerly known as Reliance Strategic Investments Limited) were listed today on the Bombay Stock Exchange at Rs 265 as well as on the National Stock Exchange at Rs 262. The stock however hit 5% lower circuit limits on both exchanges in a major selloff by investors.

Chairman of JFSL KV Kamath said during the listing ceremony held in BSE that JFSL will be an important player in India’s financial services sector adding that JFSL intends to go with the story of being a digital-first institution.

He said that although the company was a little late to the party, it had its advantages. He said, "You have the advantage of riding on technological developments that are already visible and then optimising them to the fullest extent." 

JFSL which is a non-banking financial company (NBFC) and part of the conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani was spun off last month. RIL had first demerged its financial services operations, transferring them to Reliance Strategic Investments Ltd which was subsequently renamed as JFSL. In a 1:1 ratio, the eligible shareholders of RIL got one JFSL share for each RIL share they held as of the record date of July 20. 

The stock will be part of major Indian indexes, including the benchmark BSE Sensex and Nifty 50, however for the first 10 days, JFSL will trade in the T Group segment. In the Trade to Trade group, intraday trading is not permitted, also the stock will have a circuit limit of 5% either way, thus there would not be major swings. 

As part of a special price discovery session held on the record date of July 20, the new stock's pre-listing price came out to be Rs 261.85 per share. At the set price the valuation of JFSL was placed at approximately $20 billion during the special trading session. 

Although JFSL will be the youngest entrant in the field already dominated by Bajaj Finance, Aditya Birla Finance, Tata Capital, India Bulls, PayTM etc., the company has envisaged to offer products and services across the NBFC spectrum including consumer and merchant lending, asset management, insurance, payments and digital broking. 

The biggest advantage JFSL has is the vast network of RIL's consumer businesses, including being the largest wireless operator with about 428 million users, and a retail chain with over 17,000 stores to leverage its offerings. Besides RIL having one of the largest shareholders based in the country, JFSL will have a huge database of individual investors that it can leverage for its products and services. 

The company has already announced a 50:50 joint venture entity with BlackRock to enter the mutual fund industry and more such tie-ups would be in the offing.