TELECOM

India Telecom Giant Jio Attracts More Huge Investments

June 5, 2020

Toby Howell

Daily Writer

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 Indranil Mukherjee/AFP via Getty Images

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Like Adam Sandler’s dramatic acting abilities, India's Jio Platforms has gone from under-the-radar to the talk of the town. 

Yesterday, a group led by private equity firm Silver Lake Partners agreed to invest an additional $602 million in Jio on top of the $750 million investment Silver Lake already made last month. Jio is the digital arm of Reliance Industries, an Indian conglomerate and the country's most valuable firm.

• This news comes on the heels of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund investing $1.2 billion in Jio on Thursday...which comes on the heels of a $1.5 billion investment from private equity firm KKR in May...which comes on the heels of Facebook pouring in $5.7 billion in April. 

What's all the fuss?

Jio is an entry point into India’s telecom market which is, in a word, ginormous—its 600 million internet users is second only to China. 

• Jio bet big on providing cheap 4G service for customers, but the more than $12 billion it’s raised in the past two months shows that investors are also interested in its e-commerce, payments, and 5G potential. 

Bottom line: Remember the name.