Facebook will invest Rs 43,574 crore in Mukesh Ambani’s Jio. With this investment, Facebook’s stake in Jio will increase to 9.99%. It is the largest FDI in the Indian technology sector. After this deal between the two companies, the valuation of Jio will be Rs 4.62 lakh crore, it has has been calculated as 70 against the dollar. Facebook will become the largest minority shareholder in Jio after regulatory approval.
There are around 100 million mobile users in India. India is also the largest market for Facebook. Its subsidiary WhatsApp also has 400 million users in India. Reliance Jio has 38.8 million users in the country. Even after the deal, Reliance Jio will remain a wholly-owned entity of the Infocomm Jio Platform.
The partnership between Facebook and Jio is important in many respects. This is the largest investment worldwide for a minority stake in a technology company and the largest FDI in the Indian technology sector. Talking about market capitalization, Jio’s parent company Reliance Industries is at the top. Jio’s entire network started in 2016 is based on 4G while other companies have a mix of 2G, 3G, and 4G. After this deal, the valuation of Jio will be 4.62 lakh crore rupees.
In a press release by the company, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said that the partnership between Jio and Facebook will further strengthen the Prime Minister’s Digital India mission. This will also facilitate ease of living and ease of doing business. After Corona, the country’s economy will grow rapidly and this partnership between Geo-Facebook will play an important role in it.
Mark Zuckerberg said that there is a lot going on in the world at the moment, but I want to give an update on working in India. Facebook is partnering with the Jio platform and Facebook will invest in Jio. Apart from this, Facebook and Jio will also work together on other projects which will provide business opportunities to people in India. The country is in a phase of digital transformation and Jio has played an important role in it.
David Fisher, Chief Revenue Officer of Facebook and Ajit Mohan, VP and MD of the company in India, said in a shared blog that the investment reflects the company’s commitment to India. In less than 4 years, Jio has 38.8 million users. It not only inspires the innovation of the new enterprise but also helps people to connect in a new way. The company along with Jio wants to add more people to India.
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In October last year, Reliance announced the formation of a new subsidiary to bring all its digital initiatives and apps under a single entity. Reliance had invested 1.08 lakh crore rupees in this new company. Jio apps like Jio TV, Jio Cinema, Jio News, etc. were brought under this new company. It also simplified the structure for potential strategic investors. On March 18, Reliance Industries transferred some of the debt of Reliance Jio to itself. However, the amount of this loan was not disclosed.
Reliance Jio is the largest telecom company in the country in terms of customers. As of December 2019, Reliance Jio had 37 crore subscribers as per the latest TRAI data. Vodafone-Idea was the second largest telecom company in December with 332 million subscribers. Bharti Airtel was the third-largest company with 32.72 crore subscribers in December 2019. According to TRAI, the state telecom company BSNL had 11.8 crores and MTNL had 33.76 lakh subscribers this month.
Facebook has set a target of creating 34 million monthly active users in India by 2020. According to Statista.com, Facebook had more than 28 crore monthly active users in 2018. It is headquartered in California, USA, and also operates platforms such as Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Watch, Portal, Oculus, Calibra. Its total revenue in 2019 was $ 70.697 billion.