After 13 mega investments in Reliance Industries' telecom arm Jio Platforms, Google will invest Rs 33,737 crore for a 7.7 percent stake, says Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani at the 43rd annual general meeting.

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Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms has investment from two of the leading tech companies in the world now -- Google and Facebook.

With Google's investment, Jio Platforms has raised a combined of Rs 1,52,056 crore from all the mega investments. RIL has cumulatively raised Rs 2,12,809 crore including the rights issue, combined investments in Jio Platforms and investment by BP.

"Google and Jio are partnering to build a smartphone operating system right here in India. Jio is committed to provide affordable 4G devices to more than 300 million feature phone users in India," said Ambani in his speech.

He further said that RIL is now a truly net debt free company ahead of schedule. "We now look forward to only adding strategic partners in each of our future businesses," he added later.

Read:

RIL AGM 2020 key highlights: Google investment in Jio Platforms; JioMart; Jio 5G, Jio TV+, JioMeet

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet said, "“Reliance Industries, and Jio Platforms in particular, deserve a good deal of credit for India’s digital transformation. The pace and scale of digital transformation in India is hugely inspiring for us and reinforces our view that building products for India first helps us build better products for users everywhere. Google is proud to invest ₹ 33,737 crore into Jio. I am excited that our joint collaboration will focus on increasing access for hundreds of millions of Indians who don’t currently own a smartphone while improving the mobile experience for all."

This is the first investment from the Google For India Digitization Fund announced earlier this week, which aims to accelerate India’s digital economy over the next five to seven years through a mix of equity investments, partnerships, and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments.

Facebook remains the biggest investor for Jio Platforms, with 9.99 percent stake for Rs 43,574 crore followed by Google, KKR, Vista Equity Partners, PIF, Mubadala, General Atlantic, ADIA, Silver Lake Partners and 6 others .

As on July 14, RIL's market capitalisation stood at Rs 12 lakh crore (approximately $159,000 million).

Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.

First Published:Jul 15, 2020 2:40 PM IST