After speculations and leaks, Reliance Jio has finally announced that Google will be investing Rs 33,737 crore for a 7.7 percent stake in Jio Platforms.?
This investment by Google values Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.36 lakh crore. The announcement was made at Reliance India Limited¡¯s 43rd Annual General Meeting.?
This is the fourth company making a strategic investment with Jio, after Facebook, Qualcomm and Intel. Google, in collaboration with Jio, is working on developing a new Android-based?4G/5G smartphones to connect India even further.?
This also makes Google the 14th investor among a list of investors and this investment raises the total fund collected by Reliance Jio Platforms to Rs 1,52,056 crore. This announcement also comes days after the announcement by Qualcomm to invest Rs 730 crores. This will also be the last company to be making an investment in this specific round of Jio investments.?
Google¡¯s investment comes days after Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, at its Google for India online conference revealed to the world that it will be investing Rs 75,000 crores (which is around $10 billion) in India over the next five to seven years.?
This investment will be used in four specific areas -- to enable affordable access to information to every Indian regional language, build products and services that India needs right now, help businesses go digital and lastly leveraging technology and AI for social good in health, agriculture and education.
Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, said, ¡°Google?has empowered millions of Indians to access helpful information and, like Jio, is a force for change and innovation. We welcome Google onboard and are excited about our partnership for what it can deliver to Indians, from universalising Internet usage to deepening the new digital economy and providing a prime mover to India¡¯s economic growth. Together, we hope to play a strong facilitative role in the transformative journey of building a new, Digital India.¡±
After Facebook, this massive investment by Google in Jio Platforms means major global investors are finally looking at Indian companies for renewed growth in the COVID-19 pandemic hit world economy.