Reliance Jio on investments spree, to invest in content, healthcare, edtech, fintech

Reliance Jio is looking for more investments as it is planning to invest in the content, healthcare, education technology, financial technology and transportation segments, according to an ET report.

Last month, Jio secured about $500 million in debt from Japanese banks including Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC).

Jio is already on investment and acquisition spree. In April this year, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) signed a pact to acquire Saavn music app for $104 million in cash and rest in stock.

The Mukesh Ambani-led group will merge Saavn with its music streaming product JioMusic. The merged entity has also become Unicorn with $1 billion in valuation.

It has also committed to investing around $180 million over three years in AI-based education platform Embibe.

After disrupting telecom, Jio has also increased its stakes in content segment. It has already bought significant equities in EROS, ALTBalaji and recently acquired music streaming portal Saavn.

With the new acquisitions and investments, Jio plans to provide both content and products on its mobile platform and pose a stiff competition in the market.

The report, however, added that Jio will make all acquisitions and investments through RIL in the short-term as the parent entity will look to list Jio in a few years and, therefore, try and ensure that its balance sheet starts off on a clean slate.

Besides, it is also working to create free wi-fi spots at various parts in the country. Jio is also one of the bidders at RailTel to supply, installation, testing, commissioning, operation and maintenance of wi-fi services at newly covered stations. Reliance Jio has a plan to launch 1.5 million wi-fi hotspots across the country.