Alphabet Inc’s Google has carried out a transaction of Rs 33,737 crore with Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL) digital subsidiary Jio Platforms for a 7.73 percent stake in it. The transaction is a key highlight as it marks the US technology giant’s biggest-ever investment in an Indian company. With this deal, Google has hopped on the wagon of global investors such as Facebook to have infused capital in the Mukesh-Ambani led company.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved Google picking up 7.73 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for Rs 33,737 crore, clearing the way for the internet giant to jointly develop entry-level Android smartphones on November 11, 2020. The partnership was declared by RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani during the company’s annual meeting. With this Jio Platforms is successful in securing a capital of Rs 1.52 trillion rupees by selling nearly 33 % stake to 13 financial and strategic investors in under 11 weeks, adding to the effort to eliminate net debt much ahead of the March 2021 target.
Google and Jio platforms have announced plans of collaboration to develop “an entry-level affordable smartphone with optimisations to the Android operating system and the Play Store”. Jio Platforms, representing a network of more than 388 million users, are the main digital assets arm of RIL, inclusive of broadband connectivity, cloud and edge computing, big data analytics and artificial intelligence. The Google-Jio deal is pushed with the foresight to step up existing digital services and to maintain and enhance their stronghold in the emerging digitisation market further up from the 500 million internet users in India.
As of 10:47 am today, RIL share price has reported a 0.47 % drop on BSE.
