The proposed public listings of Jio Platforms and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) are being viewed primarily through the prism of their size. Together, they promise to rank among the largest share offerings in Indian corporate history. Yet their real significance lies elsewhere. These are not simply IPOs; they are a public market endorsement of the two forces that have fundamentally reshaped the Indian economy over the past decade ~ digitisation and financialisation.

Jio’s arrival in 2016 did more than disrupt the telecom industry. By making mobile data affordable on an unprecedented scale, it transformed internet access from a privilege into a mass utility. The ripple effects extended well beyond telecommunications. Cheap connectivity accelerated the adoption of smartphones, expanded digital commerce, boosted streaming services, enabled online education and telemedicine, and provided the foundation on which India’s digital payments revolution could flourish. The remarkable rise of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is inseparable from this broader digital ecosystem that brought hundreds of millions of Indians online. The next phase of this journey is already visible. As artificial intelligence,........

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