Jio is the largest telecom operator in India and is the third-largest operator in the world. During the year 2020, the company had raised an amount of INR 1,52,056 crores by selling their stake of around 32.97%. This helped the company in coming up with new products and making the services affordable to the consumers.
The company is said to launch its new product JioBook. After years of speculation, it is believed that the product is in the Engineering Validation test stage.
JioBook is a laptop going to be launched by Reliance Jio. Just like any other product of Jio, this laptop is said to be affordable and would attract a lot of customers. As per the speculations the price of the laptop would start from INR 10,000 onwards.
In order to make affordable JioBook laptops in India, the company had partnered with Bluebank Communication Technology which is based in China. Bluebank Communication technology is a well-known software company that develops software for third parties and creates mobile devices. Bluebank has also worked in developing the popular OS used on Jio Phones which is known as KaiOS.
The news of Jio launching the laptop came out in 2018, when Qualcomm announced that it was in talks with Reliance Jio to launch laptops in India that are affordable with cellular connectivity. After that, there were lot of speculations about the launch of the laptop. After years of wait, Jio finally announced that they will be launching their laptops soon in the market.
It has also been said that the price range of the JioBook laptop would differ according to their storage options and different models.
According to the reports JioBook laptop is expected to be an android based laptop by XDA developers. The android operating system UI will be called JioOS. The laptop will run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 chipset with the support of Snapdragon X12.
JioBook laptop is said to support 4G LTE and would have a display of 720P HD. The laptop is said to have a screen resolution of 1366 x 768. It will run on the JioOS.
The JioBook laptop would come with a storage facility of 32/64 GB with an eMMC (embedded Multi-Media Card) 5.1 memory. It is an internal storage card used in portable devices. Apart from all these features, the laptop would have features that include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 2.4 and 5 GHz connectivity, and so on.
The laptop will come with all Jio-apps installed to ensure that JioBook is affordable to consumers.
JioBook laptops would be the most affordable laptop ever introduced in the country. Earlier Jio had introduced JioPhones which disrupted the entire industry. Since the launch of Jio sim in 2016 the company has been trying to come up with affordable products.
In the beginning stages, Jio sims were given for free with free internet access and unlimited calls and now Jio sim has the greatest number of subscribers in the telecom industry. Reliance Jio has the majority market share in the telecom industry with over 35.7% and 404.12 million users.
Telecom Subscriber Market Share
The low-cost JioPhone which was launched later on helped millions of users to shift to 4G from their 2G enabled phones. Reliance Jio provided JioPhones for INR 1,500 with an inbuilt OS system which helped the users use Facebook, Google and a lot of other apps.
According to the reports from Reliance Jio, in just a span of 2 years, they had sold around 70 million JioPhones.
One of the other reasons why consumers choose Jio is its offers provided such as subscriptions to OTT platforms, cashback, etc. Buyers who bought JioPhone early were provided free voice calls and 4G data for a year.
Jio is trying to use the same strategy used in JioPhones and Jio sims with the plans to launch JioBook. The company will try to capture the laptop industry with the launch of its JioBook laptop.
FAQ
What will be the Specs of JioBook laptop?
JioBook laptop will come with a storage facility of 32/64 GB with an eMMC (embedded Multi-Media Card) 5.1 memory, with support of 4G LTE and a display of 720P HD.
What is the expected price of JioBook laptop?
The expected price of JioBook laptop is 10,000.
When will JioBook laptop be launched?
JioBook laptop will may be launched at the Reliance Annual General Meeting likely to be held in July 2021.
Conclusion
Jio has announced a lot of other products which include Jio Glass for video call with the support of holographic. Jio is also planning for an affordable android phones which will be priced at the range of INR 4,000. The android phone will be manufactured with the partnership with Google.
The company has received a lot of funding last year from the biggest companies around the world. This has led Jio to overcome the major hurdles in the Industry making it the leading company in India. JioBook laptops are expected to launch soon. However, there have not been any official announcements regarding the launch of the laptops. The announcement is expected to be during the next Annual General Meeting of the company.
The Industrial Revolution of the 1800s came with unprecedented levels of production which greatly boosted the GDP per capita income of the economies in American and European nations. While this greatly reduced the need for imports in these Economies, Nations like India merely ended up as suppliers of raw materials and this had an adverse effect on the economy.
From then till now, there has been a lot of technological revolutions but none has come close to the role digitization and mobile broadband play in the growth of the Indian industry. The world is in the midst of yet another revolutionary change with the Information communication and technology industry and its focus on mobile broadband and the imminent rise of 5G technology that is expected to serve as a catalyst in this sector.
5G is a 5th generation technology that offers wireless connectivity across virtually all people and devices including objects and machines. Compared to its predecessors, 5G offers speeds in the range of multi-Gbps and reduced delays while improving reliability to assist with a wide range of critical activities such as remote surgery, self-driving cars, and increased surveillance, by offering lighting speed data with which movies can be downloaded within just seconds.
5G technology is all about the race to the future and whichever countries adopt this technology early in the race stands to gain a competitive edge among their rivals. However many countries are still early in their race to implement 5G networks due to the high cost and infrastructure required to implement the rollout of 5G technology.
Which country is ahead in 5G
South Korea has been one of the successful early adopters of 5G technology. American and European countries are not far too behind and have been heavily implementing 5G technology across their networks. China has also launched its own fully operational 5G network.
The rollout of its predecessors such as 2G, 3G, and 4G had been extremely slow in India with major delays in its implementation and this raises some questions on how India will fare in the race to setup 5G networks.
While the highly anticipated 5G is still in its planning phase, In December 2020, the chairman of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani had revealed that his telecom company, Jio, would launch 5G networks in the second half of 2021 owing to native developed technology, hardware, and network components.
With the rise of mobile usage and increased need for data services, the digital economy in India is expected to reach 1 trillion dollars by 2025. With nearly 1.2 billion mobile users and 560 million internet users, India is the second-largest internet in the world. With a stride of developments, India had taken in the past years to enable digital growth, 5G is expected to add more in empowering a Digital India.
Industries that 5G begins to impact
Agriculture, Healthcare, Education, Automobile, Retail, Banking, Sustainable Energy, Tech Enterprises, Automation, Artificial Intelligence, Logistics Industry, Smart cities & smart homes, Gaming & entertainment Industry and Industry 4.0 are some of the fields being drastically altered by 5G technology. These are just some of the use cases I have provided at this time and 5G is enabling to do much more.
Majority of IoT devices of the future depend on 5G to provide connectivity and transfer massive sums of data to help companies bring more innovation. 5G is a major paradigm shift from 4G in the sense that 4G put the world in our hands and 5G seeks to do away with hands. IHS Economics projects that by the year 2035, 5G will enable around $12.3 trillion of the global economic output which from a business perspective will add a lot more jobs in the future.
Opportunities that 5G will provide to Startup Industry
The key to the successful implementation of 5G networks lies in the telecom partnering together with startups to focus on driving innovation and disrupting the marketplace. The usage of 5G technology is unlike other technologies where you build the block and the uses present themselves rather 5G should be geared towards specific and focused use cases.
Telecom ecosystem has a large responsibility to transition into 5G, they should be able to provide high speeds at zero near latency and should make it sustainable. Telecoms partnered with startup companies will likely lead to more use cases and new ideas being generated. For example, Radisys a company headquartered in the US which builds IoT and 5G product was acquired by Reliance Industries to help strengthen their 5G networks.
Mymo, an Indian based startup that makes chipsets for 5G devices and Signal chip which makes chipsets for a 5G powered modem is taking on Qualcomm a global giant in the 5G chipset segment.
FAQ
When 5G will launch in India?
5G will roll out in India by the end of 2021 or the beginning of 2022.
When will Jio launch 5G?
Jio is planning to roll out 5G in India in the second half of 2021.
Which countries have 5G now?
South Korea is the first country to deploy 5G network.
Conclusion
With all the hype surrounding 5G, it is easy to lose track of all the innovations it has to offer. The technological advances with 5G mean newer business models wherein it possible to decide and allocate resources over shared networks geared towards specific users to enhance their user experience without disturbing the existing users.
The Indian Smartphone market is known to be the second largest smartphone market around the world according to the Counterpoint’s market monitor. In 2019 alone the mobile phone shipment to India increased to 158 million with a 7% annual growth. This is because popularity of the good quality and mid-range smartphones provided by the Chinese phone companies. Many Indians are now supporting the boycott of Chinese products amidst the ongoing border tensions between the two countries. But despite the Anti-China sentiments, the Chinese brands dominated the Indian smartphone market with a market share of 75% in 2020.
Indian buyers have been partial to the foreign brands, especially to the Chinese and American brands like Samsung, Apple, Oneplus, Oppo, Vivo, Xiomi, Realme, etc in the smartphone market. Although with the current situation with the border issues between the two countries, the market is slowly seeing a shift with the home grown brands getting a chance to gain a better market share in the business. It also might be surprising to some people that they are already many Indian mobile phone companies like Micromax, Intex, Karbonn, Lava, etc, that disappeared because of the growing competition with the Chinese companies.
These Indian companies have a long history of coming out with good mobile phones, with good quality, build, stunning features, advanced technology and lower/affordable prices targeted especially at the local audience. Some of these brands have also achieved a lot of success when they first came out, but now are nowhere to be seen. The recent bans on Chinese apps by the government have made many Indians keen on using Made in India products, and this gives our Indian mobile companies the opportunity to make a comeback with new smartphones.
Recently, Micromax has announced that it will be coming up with new phones and reentering the smartphone market. Other companies like Lava, Intex and Karbonn have the potential to make a strong comeback, but have not come with anything yet. Below are the top 8 Indian smartphone companies that have the potential and could come back in the Indian smartphone market:
Micromax Informatics is a home grown multinational electronics company. Micromax specializes in making laptops, smartphones, tablets, LED televisions and other home appliances. The company is known for manufacturing products at a low cost less and making it affordable to the common man. The company was founded in 2000, by four college friends Mohit Sharma, Dewas and Rohit Patel and has its headquarters in Gurgaon, Haryana. Micromax was first established as an IT software company that focused on democratizing technology in order to compete with International players.
why Indian mobile companies failed
The company entered the market in 2008 and quickly became one of the most leading consumers electronics company including the 10thlargest mobile phone brands in the world. Micromax still faces a huge competition with the Chinese brand in the Indian market. Micromax is also popular because it has introduced low budget phones with innovative features, which is why the company made X1i phone which became the first telephone with a battery that lasts for a month. In 2014, it became the first Indian company to sell in Russia. The company has two main sectors which are Mobile handset that include feature phones and smartphones.
The second is Consumer electronics that include Air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machine and LED television. Micromax also owns YU Televentures, which sells mobile phones under the name of YU. By 2014, the company grew so popular that it got Hugh Jackman to be its ambassador. Micromax made it comeback in 2020 which a smart phone sub brand called IN. The company is now aims at expending its portfolio in the consumer’s electronics sector and targeting a wider target audience which are premium economy consumers.
Company Name
Micromax
Headquaters
Gurugoan, Haryana
Founded On
2000
CEO
Rahul Sharma
Employees
20,000
Annual Revenue
US $330 million
Products & Services
Smartphones, Tablets, Web browser, Air conditioner, LED TVs, laptops, power banks
Lava International is an Indian Smartphone company which also manufactures products like Television and Laptops. The company was founded by Hari Om Rai, Sunil Bhalla, Shailendra Nath Rai and Vishal Sehgal in 2009. The company is also headquartered in Noida of Uttar Pradesh. The multinational company has its operations in many countries such as India, China, Russia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan even launching some of its products in countries like Egypt and Africa. Similar to Micromax, Lava also focuses on making low budget or affordable devices.
The company that started out as a telecommunications venture was given the title of the Most trustworthy Brand in the CMR retail sentiment index in the year of 2018. The company also faced a big competition from the Chinese companies in the Indian smartphone market, making it get into financial problem in 2018 making it delay payments to vendors and employees. The company is also known to be having a facility in China which is specifically for the design and development of its products.
Logos of Indian mobile companies
The company now has a distribution model which is only single layer, which includes more than 900 distributors across the country. The company is now aiming to establish a mobile phone design centre and more manufacturing facilities in India. Lava was the first company to launch 4G enabled phone in India through its 4G Connect M14, in 2017. Lava has also launched Z1, Z2, Z4, Z6 and myZ in January 2021 which are the world’s first customizable smartphone. It has also recently launched BeFIT Fitness brand.
Intex Technology is an Indian multinational company that manufactures budget friendly smartphones and gadgets. The company makes a wide variety of products such as Smartphones, PC, mobile accessories, LED Television, speakers, IT appliances and Home appliances. Intex was founded in 1996 and has its headquarters in New Delhi. The company was founded by Narendra Bansal who wanted the bridge the gap between the rich and the poor by reducing the digital divide between urban and rural.
The company also makes PCs and various products for computers like TFT – LCD Monitors, CRT monitors, Fax modems, keyboards, mouse, SMPS and UPS systems, headphones, DVD Players, MP3 players and many more. Intex was the first Indian company to launch the 3G sim enabled watch called the iRist. The company at a certain point was India’s second largest mobile phone company by sales.
Intex is still producing devices and gadgets in other sectors but has not made new phones in a while especially since the rise of Chinese phones in the Indian market. The company began LED Television business in which it has seen a growth of over 150 %. The company now focuses on IT hardware and distributing electronic in India. It has also big names such as Madhuri Dixit and Kiccha Sudeep as its brand ambassadors and owns an IPL franchise from 2016 to 2017 known as Gujarat Lions.
Company Name
Intex Technology
Headquaters
New Delhi
Founded On
1996
CEO
Keshav Bansal
Employees
10,000
Annual Revenue
US $870 million
Products & Services
Smartphones, Tablets, mobile phones, washing machine, LED TVs, UPS, webcams, security cameras, refrigerators, ACs
Karbonn is an Indian company that manufactures smartphones, tablets and even mobile accessories. This smartphone company is a joint venture of the Jaina Group from Delhi and UTL Group from Bengaluru. The company came to existence in 2009 after being founded by Sudhir Hasija and Pardeep Jain and is headquartered in New Delhi, India. The companies sells its products in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, European Countries and Middle East.
Karbonn mobile have also collaborated with telecom companies like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Jio. Karbonn is also given the rank of being one of the most trusted brands in India. The company was created after the maker’s infamous deal with the Eros International Media Ltd for whom they had to manufacture about 500,000 merchandise Kochadaiyaan which is a upcoming movie of that time.
The company then collaborated with Hungama.com and have their app preinstalled in their phones. The company worked with Google and manufactured Karbonn Sparkle V which was one first android one phones in India. The company like other also faces competition from the Chinese brands and has also not launched any new models for a few years.
Company Name
Karbonn
Headquaters
New Delhi
Founded On
2009
CEO
Pardeep Jain
Employees
10,000
Annual Revenue
US $91 million
Products & Services
Smartphones, Tablets
India manufacturing phones
iBall Mobile
iBall is as India electronics company that manufactures a wide range of products such as smartphones, tablets, web camera, PC cabinets, earphones, desk sets, keyboards, headsets, speakers, pen drives, USB products, LED monitors, chargers, etc. The company was founded in 2001 by Anil Pararampuria and has its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company also makes low budget smartphones, PC and tablets and its accessories.
iBall first started out by making computer mouse, but is known for its 2014 projects named Andi Udaan through which it made smartphones for blind women. The phone was designed in way that it had a SOS button behind the phone which made to create sounds and send automatic messages and calls to five contacts when it is pressed. In 2015 and 2016 iBall collaborated with Intel and Microsoft to launch the country most affordable Windows 10 laptop which is iBall CompBook at Rs 9,999.
Company Name
iBall Mobile
Headquaters
Mumbai, Maharashtra
Founded On
2001
CEO
Sandeep Parasrampuria
Employees
2,000
Annual Revenue
US $170 million
Products & Services
Smartphones, Tablets, mobile phones, speakers, laptops, routers, webcams, security cameras
Xolo is an Indian mobile phone company which is a subsidiary to Lava International. The company was in 2012 and is headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The company is known for its smartphones, tablets, laptops and accessories like power banks. Xolo is credited for being the first company that launched a smartphone (X900) with the Intel processor in India.
The company also aims in manufactures high quality smartphone with lower cost smartphones. It was the first Indian company to be the regional partner of the Liverpool FC. Xolo also launched a tablet named Xolo Win tablet and the first 4G enabled smartphone (LT900) in India in 2013.
It also credited for introducing the first dual camera phone in India. The Xolo Black made with the partnership with Flipkart, while the Xolo era series was made in partnership with Snapdeal. Xolo introduced a lot of new features like dual 4G sims and up to 512 GB of ram in its Xolo A500 phone which came out in 2013. The company has also recently developed its own unique UI for android phone known as Hive UI. Xolo ZX smartphone is the last phone the company in 2019.
Company Name
Xolo
Headquaters
Noida, Uttar Pradesh
Founded On
2012
CEO
Vishal Sehgal
Employees
1,371
Products & Services
Smartphones, Tablets, Hive UI, Laptops
Lyf
Lyf or Reliance Lyf is a smartphone company that belongs to Reliance Jio which is a subsidiary of the Reliance Industries Limited. The company was founded in 2015 by Mukesh Ambani and is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company started out by making affordable smartphones which was named after elements of nature such as LYF Water, LYF Earth, LYF Fire with free Jio sim cards.
This led it to becoming the fifth largest smartphone manufacturer and the second largest 4G LTE smartphone maker in 2016. The company also had partnered with Amazon and Grofers to deliver its phones. But after the short success the company stopped producing new phones.
YU Televentures is an Indian electronics company that is a subsidiary of Micromax Informatics and Cyanogen Inc. Yu was founded as a joint venture from the companies in 2014 and is headquartered in Gurgoan, Haryana. Micromax’s Co-Founder Rahul Sharma is known to own 99% of stakes in YU. Some of the best models created by the company are YU Yunique 2, YU Yureka 2 and YU Ace. However YU was discontinued by Micromax as it was merged with the company.
Company Name
YU Televentures
Headquaters
Gurgoan, Haryana
Founded On
2014
Founder
Rahul Sharma
Products & Services
Smartphones, pocket printer, Power bank
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
What are the Top Indian mobile companies?
YU Televentures
Lyf
Xolo smartphone
iBall Mobile
Karbonn Mobiles
Micromax
Lava International
Intex
What are the Chinese companies dominating the Indian smartphones market?
Reliance Jio has fulfilled its dream of taking over the data market and the 4G space in India. From December 2015 up to 2020 the marketing and growth strategies employed by Jio have enabled this company to emerge with giant like proportions and establish itself as a leader in Indian telecom space. Bharti Airtel was next with a share of 24%, while Vodafone Idea was third. State-owned BSNL commanded more than half of the market share in wired internet subscribers.
Reliance Jio now leads the chart by grabbing 52.3 per cent of the overall data market share, followed by Bharti Airtel at 23.6 per cent share in the quarter ended March 2020. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) the number of internet subscribers in India increased to over 743 million at the end of March 2020, with a growth rate of 3.4 per cent on a sequential quarter basis. Around 97% of the subscribers use mobile devices for internet access. Vodafone Idea held the third position as its internet subscriber market share at 18.7 per cent for the period in reference.
Which is why the number of wireless internet subscribers stood at 720.7 million, while the wired internet subscribers were 22.4 million. Internet access with a minimum capacity of 512 kilobits per second or more is defined as broadband connectivity. The top five service areas in terms of internet subscriptions wired and wireless were Maharashtra (63.01 million), Andhra Pradesh including Telangana (58.65 million), UP (East) (54.60 million), Tamil Nadu (51.64 million).
Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited was founded in 2007. In 2010, it acquired 95% of Infotel Broadband Services Limited. In 2010, it acquired 95% of Infotel Broadband Services Limited. This lesser known company was attractive because of the service and opportunities it offered in exchange for the price tag. The IBSL is what allows Reliance to develop its 4G network all over the country.
Reliance Jio first product was the Lyf smartphone which was launched in the India markets in 2015, which did not generate sufficient demand. In 2016, brought Reliance Industries Limited 42 annual general meetings. It was here that Ambani first announced his plans to take over the 4G space in India, with the launch of Reliance Jio.
number of subscribers increasing from 2017 to 2019
Jio takes over the market
The reason for jio’s successful marketing strategy is that it is unilateral and is the same service offered for free. The initial scheme that accompanies the launch off jio was free services till March 2017. With this scheme each individual was given access to free SIM cards with free voice calling and free 4G data to fulfil their browsing skills.
Reliance Jio reached its goal of 100 million subscribers in February 2017 just within 170 days and by June 2017 it had 200 million subscribers, thus making a record for the fastest growth of users. As of December 2019, Jio is the third largest telecom service provider in the world and has a network of close to 400 million subscribers.
Before jio, people paid between Rs.200 and Rs. 500 for limited 3G mobile data. In jio case the company had an advantage as the product was free when it was introduced, it disrupted the entire telecom space in India and brought high speed data to the general public. People were now streaming movies watching videos, video calling all from their mobile phones.
jio’s profit in 2019 and 2020
The six month free period served as an opportunity for the company to test put their product and the use the data from that period to optimize its network to the need of the consumers. When dual sim became popular, it became easy for individuals to retain their Jio SIM cards and use them for mobile data while also keeping their original phone numbers for other purposes. The company brought out new products like 4G enabled phones, broadband services, TV services and many others.
Generating a demand and created a customer base is the first step. Then comes the task of long term retention. For Jio the referral stage was particularly important as other telecom service providers had not caught up with a 4G network of that magnitude. With coverage in all 22 telecom circles, Jio became the largest mobile network operator in India by 2019.
In the financial year 2019 -2020 profits have increased by 88%. Revenue increased by approximately 40% and EBIT rose by 64%. In fact, during the corona virus pandemic, Jio reported that data usage on their network increased by over 50%. Jio has also launched in September 2016, along with the Jio music app, video streaming app and other accompaniments.
The JioPhone was launched in August 2017, with subsequent models being introduced in 2018 and in 2020. These phones are created to answer the complementary demand for affordable 4G compatible phones, generated by the original demand for 4G data. For the manufacturer of these phones, Jio has partnered with Google. Apart from this the company has also launched Wi-Fi routers and other electronics.
Jio has finally launched its video conferencing app JioMeet to take on the likes of rivals Zoom and Googlemeet. Jiomeet is available across all platforms Android, iOS, Windows, mac OS and web. The video conferencing app supports call conferencing up to 100 people and meeting can go up to 24 hours. As compared to its rival Zoom, where the duration of meetings is of 40 minutes, you have to subscribe for its paid plan to host longer meetings.
Features of Jiomeet
JioMeet can host up to 100 participants
jiomeet has a multi-device support
The calls can go up to 24 hours without any interruptions and there are no charges on the duration of calls
Safe driving mode
JioMeet Features
As Reliance was planning to launch the jiomeet to compete with its rivals Zoom and Google meet but Zoom has faced intense competition since its was established. The interface of Jiomeet is almost similar to Zoom which received mixed reactions from the users. It also gets a feature waiting room which is similar to its rival zoom. As the government of India has declared zoom is not a safe platform but the users have no choice rather than using zoom because of its features. With the entry of jiomeet, it looks like Zoom has really tough competition and soon jiomeet will dethrone zoom.
Once you setup the meeting Tap on participants at the bottom
After that Tap on Invite button and then choose the service from which you want to invite participants such as whatsapp, messages and etc.
How to join a meeting
Joining a meeting is quite simple either click on the link shared by the host or you can manually enter the meeting id and password and join the meeting.
Which is a better video conferencing app JioMeet or Zoom?
Jiomeet has all the basic features of Zoom but the point where JioMeet excels is, The call duration of JioMeet goes up to 24 hours free of charge without any interruptions whereas in Zoom it is limited to 40 minutes.
Zoom announced that it will be adding end to end encryption to both its free and paid users whereas Jio said all of its calls are password protected but nothing has been revealed about the end to end encryption like its rival. Looking at the details it’s hard to comment on which is a better video conferencing app, as per secure calls Zoom takes on the lead by offering (End to End)encryption but if we look at free calls for 24 hours then JioMeet is the winner.
FAQ about JioMeet
Is JioMeet Free ?
Yes, JioMeet is free and the calls can go up to 24 hrs without any interruptions.
Is JioMeet safe?
Jio has said that all its meetings are password protected however the company hasn’t revealed anything about an end to end encryption on its call.
Is JioMeet only for jio users?
No, JioMeet is available for all users. you can download it from Playstore or Appstore
It looks like Zoom has fierce competition here. Jio has made a great brand image in the past. JioMeet will be the first preference of Indian users as it is an Indian app. Zoom said in a statement that it has experienced intense competition since it was established. Now it’s up to Indians Will they prefer JioMeet or Zoom.
Reliance Jio is not just a telecom network, it is an entire ecosystem that allows Indians to live their digital life to the fullest. It was founded by Mr Mukesh Ambani who has been working on the JIO Infocomm Ltd since 2010. The idea is said to have come into existence when his daughter Isha Ambani complained of Low data speed (She is to thank for the fast downloads we are availing using JIO now).
Jio Platforms is a next-generation technology platform focused on providing high-quality and affordable digital services across India. Jio Platforms has made significant investments across its digital ecosystem which is powered by leading technologies like broadband connectivity, smart devices, cloud and edge computing, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things(IoT), augmented and mixed reality, and blockchain.
Jio’s vision is to enable a Digital India for 1.3 billion people and businesses across the country, including small merchants, micro-businesses, and farmers so that all of them can enjoy inclusive growth together. With these investments, Ambani plans to drive Jio ahead in the competition with giants like Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc., both of which have investments in.
In this article, we will talk about the companies that have invested in Reliance JIO in 2020. So let’s get started.
The social media giantFacebook had announced on April 22 its plans to invest $5.7 billion which is Indian INR 43574 Crore for a 9.99% stake in Reliance Industries Limited’s(RIL) telecom business, Reliance Jio. By partnering with Jio, Facebook plans to take advantage of its popular WhatsApp messenger to offer digital payment services to small grocers in India.
With a 9.9 % stake in Reliance Jio, Facebook gets a firm foothold in a fast-growing market in India. Also, it helps Reliance Jio to significantly cut down its debts. The deal valued Jio at Rs 4.62 lakh crore ($65.95 billion). It was Facebook’s biggest deal since the $22 billion buyouts of WhatsApp in 2014.
Three days later, Reliance Retail signed a commercial agreement with Facebook’s WhatsApp to further the reach of its online venture JioMart as it went live on WhatsApp on April 26.Jio Mart began offering its services in sub-urban Mumbai areas like Navi Mumbai, Thane, and Kalyan. These services will be extended all over the country.
This deal is expected to show the capacity for scaling due to a heavy user base comprising 400 millionWhatsApp users and Jio’s 388 million subscribers. JioMart uses WhatsApp to bring in high-speed information and digital cash. JioMart and Whatsapp will empower nearly 3 crores of small Indian Kirana shops to digitally transact and take on giants such as Amazon India.
Silver Lake Partners and Jio Deal
Jio-Silver Lake deal came less than two weeks after the Facebook deal. On the 4th of May, Silver Lake Partners, an American private equity giant, bought a 1% stake in Jio Platforms for INR 5,655.75 crore($750 million). This deal took Jio’s enterprise value to INR 5.15 lakh crore and represents a 12.5% premium to the equity valuation of Facebook’s investment again hitting the investing road with Jio, they invested around INR 4,546.8 crore taking around 2.08%of the company stake. Now the aggregate investment by this firm is around INR 10,202.55 crore.
"Silver Lake Partners has an outstanding record of being a valuable partner for leading technology companies globally. We are excited to leverage insights from their global technology relationships for the Indian digital society’s transformation."- Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries Limited
These deals will help Reliance use Facebook’s tech in its new businesses. It will give the US tech giant’s Indian reach a massive boost through a partner in Ambani who is widely perceived to be influential in government circles. Silver Lake’s investment highlights Reliance’s ability to monetize its digital services business and strengthens Reliance’s already strong financial flexibility.
Silver Lake Partners (SLP) was launched in 1999 as a specialist firm to focus on technology company investments. SLP made headlines after acquiring PC maker Dell Inc in conjunction with Michael Dell in 2013. Its portfolio of investments collectively generates revenues of more than $204 billion annually. Its portfolio includes Twitter, Airbnb, Alibaba Group, Ant Financial, Didi Chuxing, Motorola Solutions, and City Football Group.
Vista Equity Partners and Jio Deal
On the 8th of May, Vista Equity Partners, a US-based private equity firm running the world’s largest exclusively tech-focused fund, bought a 2.32 % stake in Jio Platforms for INR 11,367 Crores. The deal made it the third high-profile investment in the Reliance Industries Ltd’ (RIL) unit and highlights Jio’s status as a next-generation software and platform company.
This deal valued Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore. Vista’s investment is at a 12.5% premium over the deal with Facebook. It will be Vista’s biggest investment outside of its home country and it’s first in Asia. With this deal, Jio has become the fourth most valued entity in India after HDFC Bank, TCS, and RIL.
“In Robert and Brian, whose family hails from Gujarat, I found two outstanding global technology leaders who believe in India and the transformative potential of a digital Indian society. We are excited to leverage the professional expertise and multi-level support that Vista has been offering to its investments globally for the benefit of Jio.” – Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries Limited
The investment from Vista will be used by Jio to buy back RIL’s optionally convertible preference shares. The Vista deal will further help in fixing the equity value of Jio and improve RIL’s cash flows. This will accelerate RIL’s deleveraging exercise as RIL plans to eliminate Rs 1.75 lakh crore of net debt by the end of this financial year. Through Jio, Vista hopes to earn good returns as and when the telecom and technology company goes public, which is part of Ambani’s plan.
“Mukesh’s vision as a global pioneer, alongside Jio’s world-class leadership team, has built a platform to scale and advance the data revolution it started. We are thrilled to join Jio Platforms to deliver exponential growth in connectivity across India, providing modern consumer, small business, and enterprise software to fuel the future of one of the world’s fastest-growing digital economies.” -Robert Smith, Chairman, Vista
General Atlantic and Jio Deal
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani extended his fund-raising streak for Jio Platforms Ltd. by selling a 1.34% equity stake to General Atlantic on May 17. Reliance Industries Limited and Jio Platforms Limited announced an investment of ₹ 6,598.38 crores ($873 Mn) stake by General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm that has invested in Airbnb Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc.
This investment values Jio Platforms at an equity value of ₹ 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of ₹ 5.16 lakh crore. The deal will consolidate backing for Jio’s plan to use its almost 400 million mobile phone subscribers as a base for an e-commerce drive to use India’s vast consumer markets—from retail to education and payments. The deal will also support Ambani’s vow to pay down more than $20 billion of net debt at Reliance earlier than an initial March 2021 deadline.
“We are delighted that a renowned global investor like General Atlantic is partnering with us in our journey to digitally empower India and Indians. Jio is committed to making a digitally inclusive India that will provide immense opportunities to every Indian citizen.” -Akash Ambani, Director, Reliance Jio
General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm with a 40-year track record of investing in the Technology, Consumer, Financial Services, and Healthcaresectors. It operates across 14 locations as an integrated team under a global investment platform. To date, General Atlantic has invested in prominent entrepreneurs and companies around the world such as Airbnb, Alibaba, Ant Financial, Box, ByteDance, Facebook, Slack, Snapchat, Uber,and other global technology leaders.
KKR & Co. Inc. and Jio Deal
KKR is an American private equity firm and has also been one of the key investors by buying around INR 11367 crores around 2.32% of the stake.
“We are looking forward to leveraging KKR’s global platform, industry knowledge, and operational expertise to further grow Jio.” -Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries Limited
KKR was founded in 1976 by Henry Kravis and George Roberts and since then has been a prime equity firm of the US market.
“Few companies have the potential to transform a country’s digital ecosystem in the way that Jio Platforms is doing in India, and potentially worldwide.” – Henry Kravis, Chairman, KKR
Mubadala Investment Company and Jio Deal
Striking a deal of Rs 9093.6 crore with the Abu Dhabi based investment company will surely help Reliance Jio to expand its reach towards the gulf countries. It will help them expand their venture globally. While so many US-based firms investing now Abu Dhabi based firms also becoming important investors.
Mubadala Investment Company founded in 2017 in Abu Dhabi, UAE has been one of the key investing companies which have helped in growing up UAE economy on a global front. Investments like these can play a key role in developing Jio hold all around the world.
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Jio Deal
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), one of the world’s biggest sovereign wealth funds, will pump Rs 5,683.5 crore into Jio Platforms joining the list of global tech investors that have invested millions of dollars on the Reliance Industries unit due to its unique potential to dominate India’s booming digital economy.
“I am delighted that ADIA, with its track record of more than four decades of successful long-term value investing across the world, is partnering with Jio Platforms in its mission to take India to digital leadership and generate inclusive growth opportunities. This investment is a strong endorsement of our strategy and India’s potential.” -Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries
The decision by ADIA, a globally-diversified investment institution, in exchange for a 1.16 % stake, is an unprecedented eighth investment in Jio Platforms in less than seven weeks and marks the largest continuous fundraising action by a company anywhere in the world. RIL, the oil-to-retail-to-telecom conglomerate, has now sold a little over 21 % stake in Jio Platforms through a flurry of fundraising deals and raised as much as Rs 97,885.65 crore, or $12.96 billion.
“Our investment in Jio is a further demonstration of ADIA’s ability to draw on deep regional and sector expertise to invest globally in market-leading companies and alongside proven partners.” -Hamad Shahwan Aldhaheri, Executive Director, ADIA
TPG and Jio Deal
TPG Captial is going to invest 4,546.80 Crores for a 0.93% stake in the Jio platform, making it the ninth deal in just a span of seven weeks taking the combined fundraising in the Reliance Industries unit across the 1 lakh crore mark. TPG has previously invested in Companies like Airbnb, Uber and Spotify.
“Today, I am happy to welcome TPG as valued investors in our continued efforts towards digitally empowering the lives of Indians through the creation of a digital ecosystem. We have been impressed by TPG’s track record of investing in global technology businesses which serve hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses, making the societies we live in better.” -Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries
In TPG’s more than 25 years of history, it has successfully built an ecosystem made up of hundreds of portfolio companies and a value-added network of professionals, executives and advisors around the world. By offering institutional support and global resources, TPG enables these companies to reach their full potential and unlock greater possibilities.
“We are excited to partner Reliance to invest in Jio. As an investor in growth, change, and innovation for over 25 years – and with a longstanding presence in India — we are excited to play an early role in Jio’s journey as they continue to transform and advance India’s digital economy. Jio is a disruptive industry leader that is empowering small businesses and consumers across India by providing them with critical, high-quality digital services. The company is bringing unmatched potential and execution capabilities to the market, setting the tone for all technology companies to come.” -Jim Coulter, Co-CEO, TPG
L Catterton and Jio Deal
The world’s largest consumer-focused private equity firm L Catterton is going to invest Rs 1,894.50 crore in Jio Platforms for a 0.39% stake in Reliance Jio. With this Reliance, Jio has made a historic record with 10 investments in just seven weeks and has raised INR 104,326.95 Crores from leading global investors since April 22nd, 2020.
“I am delighted to welcome L Catterton as a partner in our journey to unleash the power of digital for India while providing a consumer experience that is among the best in the world. I particularly look forward to gaining from L Catterton’s invaluable experience in creating consumer-centric businesses because technology and consumer experience need to work together to propel India to achieving digital leadership.” -Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries
L Catterton is a preferred investment partner for several leading consumer-focused brands around the world. Having a 30-year track record of leveraging its operational expertise, deep sector insights, a global network of resources, and its unique partnership with LVMH and Groupe Arnault, L Catterton has successfully invested in and helped build some of the most innovative brands at the forefront of the evolving consumer landscape, including Peloton, Vroom, ClassPass, Owndays, FabIndia, and more.
“Over our more than 30 year history, we have established a track record of building many of the most important brands across all consumer categories and geographies, from retailers, omni-channel and digitally native brands. We are strong supporters of fostering growth through product development, enhanced digital capabilities, and strategic alliances. We look forward to partnering with Jio, which is uniquely positioned to execute on its vision and mission to transform the country and build a digital society for 1.3 billion Indians through its unmatched digital and technological capabilities" -Michael Chu, Global Co-CEO, L Catterton
Saudi Arabia’s PIF and Jio Deal
Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIF), one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds is all set to pick up a 2.32 per cent stake in Indian oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries’ Jio, for an estimated $1.5 billion. With PIF coming on board, Jio Platforms has diluted 25 per cent of its equity. That’s the maximum they intend to dilute to financial investors, which includes Mark Zukerberg’s Facebook. Any new investors coming on board in future will have to be “strategic investors, a tech giant, for instance,” said a source who was part of the deal-making process.
Conclusion
The secret behind Jio’s success is that it’s customer-centric and has a webscale mentality. Reliance Jio made it look easy when it successfully swooped into the jam-packed and super competitive mobile market with free 4G voice and data service. So in short Reliance Jio aims at harnessing the full potential of the internet to create a digital revolution through its technologies. Innovative services and long-term planning will radically bring the world to one’s fingertips much faster and also transform the way Indians think, work, live, and are entertained.
FAQs
Who is the founder of Reliance Industries Limited?
Dhirubhai Ambani is the founder of Reliance Industries Limited.
Who is Mukesh Ambani?
Mukesh Ambani is the managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd.
India has gone through a rapid digital transformation over the last few years. After coming of Jio into existence in the Indian ecosystem. This contribution in the Indian market has increased the use of smartphone and internet with a great pace and it has grown exponentially. Now, Jio has collaborated with a social media giant Facebook, making it the world’s largest made by any technology company in the world. Let us read the key aspects of Jio-Facebook Partnership.
Highlights of Jio-Facebook Partnership
Jio-Facebook Partnership
The Facebook Inc. is the world’s largest social media company. The company has announced that it has invested $5.7 billion for a 9.99% stake as a minority investor in India’s Reliance Jio Platforms in the nation’s most valued firm, Reliance Industries which is the biggest telecom operator in the country with more than 370 million subscribers giving its services in all the sectors of telecom operations.
Jio was valued at $65.95 billion at the pre-money valuation period. This makes Facebook- the social giant, the largest minority shareholder in the Indian telecom network by bidding for nearly 10% of the stakes in Reliance Jio telecom subsidiary platform.
The Jio-Facebook Partnership will work in the direction of bringing together JioMart, which will be an e-commerce business retail platform which will be providing all types of facilities under a single platform using the technologies and data of both the companies. Some of the experts are also saying that, this can be the nation’s largest retail chain, with the integration of WhatsApp as this messaging platform is having a biggest market with more than 400 million users. WhatsApp is also the most popular smartphone app in India.
The Reliance Jio-Facebook Partnership wants to replicate the USP of Wechat in India by creating an all-in one, multi-utility platform named as ’JioMart’.
WeChat is a Chinese multi-purpose messaging, mobile payment app and social media platform developed by Tancent. It was first released in 2011, and gained so much popularity that it became one of the world’s largest standalone mobile apps in 2018, with over 1 billion monthly active users. Due to exponential increase in the popularity, WeChat has been described as China’s “app for everything” and a “super app” because of its multiple range of functions under a same console roof.
The JioMart platform will be having all the payment facility and E-commerce of Jio itself, who is having all its platform ready to use eg:- Ajio, JioMoney. The company is going to integrate WhatsApp facility for completing any type of purchasing with the help of WhatsApp payments option. All the other facilities which are not provided by them, will be provided with the integration of retailers of those special services. This specially include, the kirana-retailor, which will be helping them to complete their all-facility-single-platform-hub. So, in this way, this collaboration is going to replicate the model of WeChat in India.
Other Investment of Facebook in India
This is not the first time when Facebook has made any investment in India. From the past, it has been seen that the Facebook has made some investment in some of the other tech start-ups. Some of these startups consist of edutech and social commerce reseller platform.
The social commerce reseller platform, Meesho has been funded by Facebook with around $20-25 million. It is a platform where people act themselves as a seller by just listing it on their digital-social groups, in other words a drop-shipping business in your local group.
The edutech startup Byju’s has been funded by Facebook with around $50 million. This startup works on the interactive way of providing education of students from primary classes to all the competitive exams.
The edutech startup Unacademy has been funded by Facebook with around $110 million. This startup provides the best teachers for all types of competitive exams and provides a focus on detailed study while sitting in any corner of the country
These funded startups are: Byju’s, Unacademy and Meesho. Though exact amounts of investment is not disclosed in these cases but, it is a well-known fact that the Facebook is just trying to integrate every type of business platform with the widely used messaging app i.e. Whatsapp. This will help Facebook in getting the data of the people, which can help Facebook to run a suitable ads for it, according to the needs and requirements of the people which can become a potential customers of different other businesses via Facebook ads marketplace.
Since Coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, the coronavirus has spread in many countries all over the world. As the number of infections and deaths from the coronavirus i.e. COVID-19 rise drastically, many governments, schools, and companies around the world are taking more drastic measures to restrain the virus’s spread. At this time, coronavirus has more than 118,000 cases and 4,290 deaths worldwide.
As the number of infections and deaths from the novel coronavirus are still increasing day by day, people are advised to avoid public presence, social gatherings, etc. At present, India has over 60 confirmed cases of coronavirus with employees in IT companies affected and 9.41 Lakh people have been screened at airports. Similarly, there are at least 1,267 cases of the coronavirus with more than 29 deaths in the United States.
Many major companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple & so on are also making sure that their employees do not get affected and stay safe during this outbreak. Google has advised all its employees in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to work from home starting March 12th, expanding a recommendation sent on March 10 to North America-based employees to work from home until at least April 10th.
On Sunday, Apple CEO Tim Cook encouraged employees at several of its global offices to work remotely “if your job allows” from March 9th to 13th. And by the end of last week, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and many other tech companies asked their employees in the Bay Area and Seattle to work from home. Moreover, Google also confirmed that it would give its hourly workers their regular pay if they had to miss work due to coronavirus. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is urging Americans to ask their schools and workplaces about contingency plans, like working from home, in case they have to shut down over coronavirus. Companies from Wuhan to Silicon Valley have changed how and where they do business as the virus spreads on.
Due to drastic spread of coronavirus lately, many Indian corporations & startups are asking their employees to work from home. This includes Flipkart, Snapdeal, Swiggy, Paytm, Uber & Wipro and so on. Nithin Kamath, founder of stock broking startup Zerodha, stated that the entire team of 1,200 has been asked to work from home. Similarly, other Bengaluru-based startups like fintech startup Instamojo, edtech platform Unacademy, Byju’s, Bounce and Meesho have asked their employees to strictly work from home to avoid any risk. E-commerce companies like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Paytm & also Swiggy are encouraging their employees to work from home by using technologies like videoconferencing to interact with their clients and colleagues. Also ride-hailing companies like Ola & Uber are asking their employees to work remotely especially if one is feeling unwell. Moreover, IT industries like Wipro & Tech Mahindra are taking necessary precautions by keeping employees,who travel overseas for their projects, in quarantine. Telecom major Reliance Jio Infocomm & Coal India have given their employees choice to work from home without any biometric attendance.
Companies adopting work from home due to Corona
Many companies are looking for solutions to enable their employees work from home without compromising the efficiency of work. For this, they are adopting various technologies & software. The Chennai-based office suite provider Zoho also made the announcement that it also implemented a work from home policy for its own employees. The company states that over 8000 employees across more than 10 countries will be working from safety of their homes until the virus is brought under control. Zoho uses Remotely toolkit to run their remote operations. Zoho Corp CEO Sridhar Vembu has been running the company from a remote farm near Tenkasi, a town in southern Tamil Nadu with the help of Remotely — the company’s virtual collaboration and productivity platform. Now, Zoho is also offering the same tools to its business partners and clients for free temporarily. Zoho Remotely includes a selection of apps in advanced software suite which will enable communication and collaboration between colleagues and customers.
Similarly, the networking giant Cisco is offering its remote collaboration tool Webex for free under 90-day licences to businesses who are not its customers. Cisco’s SVP and GM, Sri Srinivasan said that they would also be helping existing customers meet their rapidly changing needs as they enable a much larger number of remote workers by expanding their usage at no additional cost. He further revealed that that after the Covid-19 virus, traffic on the Webex backbone connecting China-based Webex users to their global workplaces has increased as much as 22 times.
At the same time, other companies are relying upon video conferencing and chat software. During this outbreak, the demand for Microsoft, Google, and Zoom’s Video Conferencing Software has increased significantly all over the world. This demand is expected to increase even more as the number of cases rises. As the number of school closures and quarantines increases, video conferencing will become ever more & more important. According to reports, Microsoft’s Teams collaboration platform has seen a 500% increase in usage in China since end of January. This usage is increasing in the U.S. as well, with more employees working from home. While, Zoom CFO, Kelly Steckelberg has said publicly that its usage is up significantly from its 100 billion minutes run rate at the end of January. During the same time period, the company also saw four-five times as many users in Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
Considering the risk and intensity of COVID-19, these companies are offering many services free of cost. All that demand has made the tech companies to make it easier and in some cases free to use their software. Microsoft announced that Teams is now free to anyone with an email address. Google said last week it’s offering access to its Hangouts Meet video conferencing service and all its G-Suite as well as to G Suite for Education collaboration platforms for free of cost. Even, Zoom has also lifted the 40-minute limit on meetings for its users in China. Now, it is being extended to schools and universities in the U.S. upon request. Slack, a messaging platform, already offers a free tier but the company is offering live Q&A and webinars free.
In the middle of worldwide health and safety worries, the company and its team once again shows its agility and tenacity by offering free services. This is really good gesture in tech market.
PV Vyshnavi
