Indian Finance Minister Flags 2027 Risk as Stocks Slide and Jio Hits Crypto Rails

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman flagged sustained capital outflows as one of the country’s biggest risks for 2027, speaking on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Bangkok. Her warning came as India’s benchmark stock indexes slid more than 12% in 2026 and as global crypto traders began pricing the country’s largest-ever IPO.

The NSE Nifty 50 has fallen 12.13% since the start of 2026, and the BSE Sensex has dropped 12.78%, as money moved toward the United States and artificial intelligence trades. Foreign portfolio investors have sold more than $33 billion of Indian equities this year, according to depository data. Sitharaman tied part of the weakness to easy market conditions that let investors leave quickly.

“Because of the ease of liquidity, ease of availability, people are even exiting easily,” Sitharaman said. She added that India’s economic fundamentals remain sound, and that the country would not suffer if the global AI investment boom reversed, since it never attracted that capital in the first place.

The outflows have also pressured the rupee, which has weakened toward record lows alongside high oil prices and rising US Treasury yields. The Reserve Bank of India has stepped up intervention to defend the currency, drawing down its reserves in the process.

Against that backdrop, the country’s biggest share sale is already trading on crypto rails. Jio Platforms, the digital and telecom arm of Reliance Industries, filed its red herring prospectus on October 14, 2026, setting a price band of ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 per share for a fresh issue of up to 27 crore shares. At the upper end, the issue would raise about ₹30,213 crore and value the company near ₹10.3 lakh crore, roughly $106 billion, topping Hyundai Motor India’s 2024 record.

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The same week, crypto exchange Bitget listed JIOUSDT, a pre-IPO perpetual futures contract tied to Jio’s expected valuation, with up to 20x leverage. The contract settles in the stablecoin USDT, trades around the clock, and gives holders no Jio shares. It traded near $11.9 after launch. Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget, said the listing brings Jio’s upcoming IPO into the derivatives market and gives traders early exposure before the company goes public. Bitget described it as the first pre-IPO perpetual tied to an Indian company on a global exchange.

Anchor investors begin bidding for the Jio IPO on October 19, with the public issue opening on October 21 and a listing expected on October 28. The debut will test both India’s appetite for risk amid the outflows Sitharaman described and how closely crypto markets priced the country’s largest IPO.

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