Retail investors borrowed Rs 2,228 crore to buy Jio Platforms shares on listing day. The debut made it India's fourth-largest margin trading position.Retail investors borrowed Rs 2,228 crore to buy Jio Platforms on listing day.

Retail investors borrowed Rs 22.28 billion (Rs 2,228 crore) to buy Jio Platforms shares on its listing day, making the stock the fourth-largest in India's margin trading facility (MTF) market, reported news agency Reuters.The significant borrowing came as shares of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Jio Platforms witnessed strong demand on their stock market debut on Wednesday, October 28. The stock jumped 26.7% in debut trade, valuing the telecom and digital services company at around $137 billion and making it India's second-largest listed company by market capitalisation.According to data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the BSE as of October 28, only HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and BSE Ltd had larger margin trading positions than Jio Platforms.The NSE classified Jio Platforms under Group 1 securities on its debut, while the BSE placed it under a similar Group A category.

This made the stock eligible for margin funding from its first trading session. Margin trading facility (MTF) is an exchange-approved product that allows investors to borrow money from brokers at an interest rate to purchase shares.

The interest rates on margin trading in India typically range between 9% and 18% per annum.A section of investors believes Jio Platforms could deliver returns higher than the cost of borrowing, Ashish Nanda, president and digital business head at Kotak Neo, told Reuters. The development comes at a time when India's overall cash market margin trading book has contracted following a wave of retail margin-call liquidations.

The MTF book stood at Rs 1.51 lakh crore as of October 28, down from a record Rs 1.59 lakh crore on September 30."Naturally, (Jio Platforms) would draw interest from investors across the board. In that sense, it was bound to become eligible ... sooner or later," Deven Choksey, managing director of DRChoksey Finserv, told Reuters.While the Rs 2,228 crore margin-funded position in Jio Platforms may appear substantial, it accounts for just 0.17% of the company's total market capitalisation, Dhiraj Relli, managing director and CEO of HDFC Securities, told Reuters.- Ends