Reliance Industries has recently announced that General Atlantic, a US based private equity firm will invest over INR 6,598.38 crore (USD 879 million) into Jio Platforms. The investment will translate into a 1.34 percent stake in Jio Platforms. Apart from General Atlantic, Jio Platforms has also raised funds from some of the prominent players in the market including Facebook, Silver Lake and Vista Equity Partners.                

These investments by leading investors would help Jio realise its vision to enable a Digital India for people and businesses including small merchants, micro-businesses and farmers across India. The recent deals, along with Reliance’s plan to sell USD 7 billion in new shares, will help the company the pay the debt amount of over USD 21.4 billion by the end of 2020. “I am thrilled to welcome General Atlantic, a marquee global investor, as a valued partner. I have known General Atlantic for several decades and greatly admired it for its belief in India’s growth potential. General Atlantic shares our vision of a Digital Society for India and strongly believes in the transformative power of digitization in enriching the lives of 1.3 billion Indians. We are excited to leverage General Atlantic’s proven global expertise and strategic insights across 40 years of technology investing for the benefit of Jio,” said Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries.                     

Bill Ford, Chief Executive Officer of General Atlantic, said, “As long-term backers of global technology leaders and visionary entrepreneurs, we could not be more excited about investing in Jio. We share Mukesh’s conviction that digital connectivity has the potential to significantly accelerate the Indian economy and drive growth across the country. General Atlantic has a long track record working alongside founders to scale disruptive businesses, as Jio is doing at the forefront of the digital revolution in India.”                                                     

Investors are betting big on Jio’s huge customer based across India and its potential to digitally transform traditional industries in the country right from retail to education and payments. Ambani’s moves to sell major shares in the company have put Reliance into a direct competition with Amazon and Walmart that are spending big amounts to increase their business in India, the only country with more than one billion people after China.