TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

      22 June 2022

      Winter 1, Eskom 0

      22 June 2022

      What it will take to bring the Guptas to justice

      22 June 2022

      Inflation in South Africa spikes higher

      22 June 2022

      Eskom announces massive escalation in load shedding

      22 June 2022
    • World

      Tether to launch a stablecoin tied to the British pound

      22 June 2022

      Tech giants form metaverse standards body, without Apple

      22 June 2022

      There are still unresolved matters in Twitter deal, Musk says

      21 June 2022

      5G subscriptions to top one billion in 2022: Ericsson

      21 June 2022

      Crypto lenders face a DeFi drubbing

      21 June 2022
    • In-depth

      Goodbye, Internet Explorer – you really won’t be missed

      19 June 2022

      Oracle’s database dominance threatened by rise of cloud-first rivals

      13 June 2022

      Everything Apple announced at WWDC – in less than 500 words

      7 June 2022

      Sheryl Sandberg’s ad empire leaves a complicated legacy

      2 June 2022

      Tulipmania meets the real economy at WhatsApp speed

      30 May 2022
    • Podcasts

      How your organisation can triage its information security risk

      22 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E06 – ‘Apple Silicon’

      15 June 2022

      The youth might just save us

      15 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E05 – ‘Nvidia: The Green Goblin’

      8 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E04 – ‘The story of Intel – part 2’

      1 June 2022
    • Opinion

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022

      A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

      19 May 2022

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022

      How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

      8 April 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»Sections»E-commerce»Google to invest $4.5-billion in India’s Jio Platforms

    Google to invest $4.5-billion in India’s Jio Platforms

    E-commerce By Agency Staff15 July 2020
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email

    Google has agreed to buy a US$4.5-billion stake in Jio Platforms, the digital arm of Reliance Industries, adding to a series of large investments from the US into the online venture that has nearly 400 million users for its voice and data services in India.

    The global search leader is acquiring 7.7% of the fast-growing Internet unit for a price of 337.4-billion rupees, Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Wednesday.

    “Digital revolution marks the greatest transformation in the history of mankind,” Ambani told shareholders at Reliance’s annual general meeting. “India must lead the change to create a better world. This is Jio’s purpose.”

    Digital revolution marks the greatest transformation in the history of mankind. India must lead the change to create a better world

    Google joins rival Facebook, which recently put $5.7-billion toward a 10% stake of Jio as well as the investment arms of compatriot chip makers Intel and Qualcomm. Interest in Jio is high because it’s seen as a gateway to India’s large and growing online population — second only to China’s, whose door is firmly shut to American Internet services like Google and Facebook’s.

    Jio is at the centre of the Indian tycoon’s ambition to transform his energy conglomerate into a homegrown technology behemoth akin to China’s Alibaba Group. With Google’s contribution added in, the venture has now attracted somewhere close to $20-billion in recent months. The Reliance share price was up 3% in the buildup to the presentation and has been setting new highs over the past few weeks.

    India riches

    Google’s backing further burnishes Jio’s credentials in its push to upend online retail, content streaming, digital payments, education and health care in a market of more than a billion people.

    Global tech leaders are looking for multiple ways to grab a slice of the Indian market, where millions of first-time Internet users are added every month. Jio Platforms offers the largest base of such users who are increasingly buying consumer goods online and downloading music and video, using cheap smartphones and Jio’s own cut-price data services.

    “The bigger story is the market access to opportunities that Jio Platforms can provide these investors,” said Satish Meena, senior forecast analyst at Forrester Research. “They are betting on the track record of Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani whose scaling up of diverse businesses from energy to retail to telecoms has been nothing short of impressive,” Meena said via telephone from New Delhi.

    Mukesh Ambani. Image: World Economic Forum

    The flood of investments in Jio is closely tied to the number of Internet users it has and the services it can market to them. “Jio is already connecting them to the Internet, providing them with content and just starting to do commerce. It’s a very good investment opportunity for global companies,” he said.

    For Google, cloud computing is another important consideration, tech industry consultant Chetan Sharma said ahead of the announcement. As a provider, “Google has been more reactive than proactive” in the country, he said, and “this gives them a leg in”. The move would also support Google’s Android smartphone operating system and the company’s mobile payments push in the country, he added.  — Reported by Saritha Rai, (c) 2020 Bloomberg LP

    Facebook Google Jio Platforms Mukesh Ambani Reliance Industries
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleEurope loses €13-billion tax battle with Apple
    Next Article Eskom bumps up load shedding as electricity demand climbs

    Related Posts

    The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

    22 June 2022

    Winter 1, Eskom 0

    22 June 2022

    What it will take to bring the Guptas to justice

    22 June 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    More than card machines – iKhokha diversifies to reach more SMEs

    22 June 2022

    What does it cost to be a student in 2022?

    22 June 2022

    Rugged PCs bring AI to the edge in industrial settings

    21 June 2022
    Opinion

    Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

    21 June 2022

    Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

    13 June 2022

    A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

    19 May 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.