INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Reliance Industries, Jio Platforms and Facebook on Wednesday announced the signing of binding agreements for an investment of Rs 43,574
crore by Facebook into Jio Platforms
The investment valued Jio Platforms at Rs 4.62 lakh crore pre-money enterprise value ($65.95 billion, assuming a conversion rate of Rs 70 to
diluted basis, it said.Facebook's investment would largest by a technology company for a minority stake anywhere in the world and also the
largest FDI in the technology sector in India
The investment valued Jio Platforms among the top 5 listed companies in India by market capitalisation, within three-and-a-half years of the
billion Indians and Indian businesses, especially small merchants, micro-businesses and farmers
small and medium enterprises in the informal sector, in addition to empowering people seeking various digital services," it said.Jio
Platforms, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RIL, provides connectivity platform to over 388 million subscribers.Jio has built a digital platform
powered by leading technologies such as broadband connectivity, smart devices, cloud and edge computing, big data analytics, artificial
intelligence, internet of things, augmented and mixed reality and blockchain."Our goal with this investment is to enable new opportunities
for businesses of all sizes, but especially for small businesses across India and create new and exciting digital ecosystems that will
empower, enrich and uplift the lives of all 1.3 billion Indians," RIL said.Concurrent with the investment, Jio Platforms, Reliance Retail
platform using WhatsApp and to support small businesses on WhatsApp.WhatsApp already plays an important role in helping people and
businesses connect in India