Mumbai: Mukesh Ambani owned RIL has now got a fresh investment of INR 43,547 CR which is $5.7 BN from global technology giant Facebook. Facebook’s investment translates into 9.9 percent stake in Jio. And will help its presence strengthen in India. Also, this would be Facebook’s biggest minority shareholding ever.
Another startling fact is also that this is the largest foreign direct investment for minority investment in India.
This deal underlines India as one of Facebook’s most strategic markets globally, Enable facebook and Jio Platforms to accelerate the roll-out of their omni-channel “New Commerce” strategy to empower the millions of merchants and kirana stores across India and digitize them via Jio point-of-sale machines.
This will also form a commercial relationship between Whatsapp and RIL’s E-commerce platform Jio Mart to ensure that customers are able to access the nearest kiranas who can provide products and services to their homes by transacting on Jio Mart using whatsapp.
This will help Ambani owned RIL to reduce its debt by INR 43,547 CR.
It is needless to specify the amount of data that will be shared among the two companies for the growth of the business, as its rightly said. Data is the new fuel.
Facebook said, “Today we are announcing a $5.7 billion, or INR 43,574 crore, investment in Jio Platforms Limited, part of Reliance Industries Limited, making Facebook its largest minority shareholder.”
Reliance Jio, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, has been the fastest-growing telecom network in the country since its launch in 2016. Jio has more than 388 million customers in India.
The company added, “Our goal is to enable new opportunities for businesses of all sizes, but especially for the more than 60 million small businesses across India. They account for the majority of jobs in the country, and form the heart and soul of rural and urban communities alike. In the face of the coronavirus, it is important that we both combat this global pandemic now, and lay the groundwork to help people and businesses in the years to come.
We are excited about furthering our investment in India’s vibrant digital economy. Our efforts with Jio will be focused on opening new doors and fueling India’s economic growth and the prosperity of its people. We look forward to working with Jio, and to future collaborations in India to advance this vision.”
