Mubadala to invest $1.2b in India's Jio Platforms

It will become the sixth external investor in the company, Reliance said in a statement. Others include KKR, General Atlantic, Silver Lake Partners, Vista Equity Partners and Facebook. In total, Jio Platforms is expected to receive INR867.5 billion ($11.5 billion) in committed capital.    

Founded in November last year, Jio Platforms is the parent of India's Reliance Jio Telecom, the country’s leading mobile carrier which claims to have more than 387.5 million subscribers. The news comes as Indian media reports indicate that Amazon could be considering a $2 billion investment in Bharti Airtel, Jio Telecom’s chief rival, and previously India’s leading mobile carrier.

Reliance Industries has positioned Jio Platforms’ app ecosystem as a gateway to the internet for first-time users of mobile internet services. Other subsidiaries are working to expand the company’s presence in the broadband services, cable television and e-commerce sectors. The company seeks to offer a bundled package that would be affordable to Indian consumers that are currently priced out from availing high-speed internet and streaming-related content services. 

"With Jio’s network of investors and partners, we believe that the platform company will further the development of the digital economy," said Khaldoon Al Mubarak, group CEO of Mubadala, according to the statement.

At present, DishTV is the market leader for over-the-top cable services with 23 million subscribers nationwide. ACT Broadband is the largest broadband internet service provider with 1.5 million customers. JioFiber, the company’s broadband service that would also offer access to entertainment offerings, had just 840,000 subscribers at the start of the year.  

Softbank-backed Grofers and BigBasket, backed by Alibaba, are the country’s two leading grocery delivery platforms that could lose market share if JioMart, the company’s e-commerce initiative, gains widespread acceptance.

Nearly 70% of Reliance's revenue came from oil-related activities in the last financial year. Digital services - the unit comprising the company's telecom and internet business activity - contributed 8.8%, up from 6%. The group’s oil-related businesses have been severely impacted by falling oil prices and a drop in global demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reliance has INR3.36 trillion in outstanding debt. The company has declared an ambition to eliminate net debt by the end of the current financial year and raised INR531.2 billion in capital through a discounted rights issue this week.

Mubadala manages the sovereign wealth fund of the government of Abu Dhabi. It has $229 billion in assets with interests in multiple sectors. In India, it has a stake in Gulf Energy Maritime, a commercial product and chemical tanker company headquartered in Dubai with operations in the country.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Technology
• Industrials
• Expansion
• India
• Reliance Strategic Business Ventures Limited
• TMT
• Mubadala