Reliance Industries Archives - Gizmochina

Reliance could spend billions to acquire Disney+Hotstar in India

Sean — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 12:05:49 +0000

Reliance is apparently planning on shelling out billions of dollars to acquire Disney+Hotstar in India. Recent rumors have hinted at Disney exiting the Indian market. For this, the company is also looking to sell its local assets and Reliance might be the buyer.

Reliance May Buy Out Disney+Hotstar

According to the previous report, Disney was in talks with Sun TV, Adani Group, and Reliance Industries for the potential acquisition. Now, the latest rumor hints that the deal could close soon with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Group. The transaction would involve Reliance acquiring a major control stake in the business, although both parties are expected to be in the negotiation stage to decide the exact valuation for the deal.

While initial rumors claimed that Disney is looking to completely exit the Indian market, a Bloomberg report believes that the company only wants to sell a controlling stake rather than completely letting go of its Indian unit. The news from Bloomberg adds that Disney is near a multi-billion dollar deal with Reliance Industries. If this deal goes through, then a vast part of the Disney+Hotstar OTT platform, including its TV channels like Star Sports and Star Gold, could fall under Reliance.

Disney is reportedly asking for 10 billion US Dollars for Hotstar and Star India. However, Reliance isn’t agreeing with this evaluation, instead valuing it for around 7 to 8 billion US Dollars. Interestingly enough, the company acquiring Disney+Hotstar implies that the Ambani led group could gain control over the TV streaming rights of cricket in the Indian market. This is a big deal considering the immense popularity of the sport in the region.

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Qualcomm and Jio partner up for local manufacturing of 5G equipment in India

Sean — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 07:21:36 +0000

Reliance Industries Limited has just announced that Jio Platforms will be working with Qualcomm to set up local manufacturing sites that will produce “critical equipment” for 5G networking in India.

For those unaware, both firms have previously teamed up to develop “open and interoperable” interface compliant architecture based 5G solutions back in 2020. This had the joint effort achieve over a 1Gbps milestone last year on the Jio 5GNR solution that used the US based chipmaking giant’s 5G RAN Platforms. Last year, the company had even invested 97 million US Dollars in Jio platforms as well. Although, Qualcomm has also partnered with a local rival of Jio, namely Bharti Airtel.

Reliance also added that “India is at the forefront of the global digital revolution. Jio is accelerating the rollout of digital platforms and indigenously developed next-generation 5G stack, making it affordable and available everywhere. With 5G technology, Indian subscribers will experience the benefits of higher data rates, low latency communications, and enhanced digital experiences across a wide array of connected devices, from 5G enabled smartphones, enterprise laptops, and AR/VR products to vertical IoT solutions.”

At the moment, Reliance Jio is working on readying 5G field trials through the trial spectrum it has received from the Department of Telecommunications. This will have the firm test its own 5G technology while also working with its 4G partner Samsung, Ericsson, and even Nokia. So, the local production of the 5G equipments in the region is a major step for the nation that is aiming to adopt the newer and faster bandwidth soon.

Reliance Jio 5G smartphone, JioBook laptop could launch in India at company’s AGM

Balaji S — Sat, 20 Mar 2021 13:01:02 +0000

Early this month, we saw a report of a laptop from Reliance Jio named JioBook being in development including a few of its specs. Now, a report by Economic times says that both the JioBook laptop and the entry-level 5G smartphone could debut at RIL(Reliance Industries Limited)’s AGM.

As per the report, the 5G smartphone, which is being developed in partnership with Google, will get through the R&D stage by the May-June period. Citing people familiar with the matter, it says that the launch could very well be during the Annual General Meeting(AGM) of Reliance Industries.

Last year, the AGM held on July 15, 2020, and this time it’s likely to be around August-September if the report is right. Speaking of last year, the Indian Telecom giant revealed that Google had invested in the Jio Platforms Ltd for a 7.73% equity stake.

This, along with 5G adoption and introducing an entry-level smartphone, came up as announcements in the 2021 meeting. Reliance Jio is expected to bring 5G to the country at this very AGM and the services will launch sometime in H2 2021.

Coming back, along with the 5G smartphone, the JioBook laptop is likely to appear at the event as well. Recently, the Indian Government conducted a spectrum auction where the companies raised their 4G capacity and Jio spent the most(₹20,000 crore).

To expand its services across products, Jio is seriously looking to enter into the product ecosystem with a 5G smartphone and laptop. This will pave way for it to bring products with deeper integration of Jio services, always-connected devices with the Jio network, and more.

We saw evidences of this in the JioBook where the company’s test unit was found using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 665 chipset with 4G LTE support, run JioOS(preloaded with Jio services) that’s based on Google’s Android.

Reliance partners with Google & Facebook for a digital payment network: Report

Sean — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 11:36:51 +0000

Reliance Industries has apparently partnered with major tech giants Facebook and Google, along with a fintech based firm Infibeam to setup a national digital payment network, as per sources close to the matter.

Jio, Reliance’s telecom unit

According to an EconomicTimes report (Via Reuters), three unnamed sourced have revealed that the Indian conglomerate and Infibeam were in advanced stages of submitting their proposal for a digital payment service to the nation’s central bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI). For those unaware, RBI invited various companies to make a new umbrella entities (NUE) to create payment networks that would rival the system operated by the National Payments Council of India (NPCI).

Unfortunately, a spokesperson for Infibeam has declined to comment on the report at the moment, adding that the company was bound by confidentiality of process. Meanwhile, Reliance, Google, and even Facebook have yet to respond on the matter. Furthermore, Facebook and Google are already partnered with the Indian giant and also own stakes in Jio Platforms, Reliance’s unit that runs the company’s music, movie and telecom services.

Notably, RBI extended the deadline for all partners to submit NUE applications until 31st March 2021 from 26th February 2021 earlier this week. Additionally, the central bank of the country is expected to take another six months to study all the proposals that are being submitted, and is not expected to give more than two new “for-profit” NUE licenses. Similar to the aforementioned brands, RBI has also declined to comment on the matter as well.

Amazon wins in Indian court – halts Future’s $3.4 billion retail deal

Sean — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 07:43:02 +0000

Earlier this week, Amazon achieved a win in an Indian court, which has also blocked Future’s retail deal worth 3.4 billion US Dollars. This decision essentially halts the sale of assets to Reliance Industries.

As per a Reuters report, the court’s decision is a major setback towards Future and could impact the retail landscape in India. For those unaware, the Future Group is India’s second largest retailer, with over 1,700 stores under its belt. The group had entered into a deal with Reliance for the sale of its retail businesses last year. But now, the court blocking the deal could be disastrous to the company, which stated that it faces liquidation if the deal fails.

The reason why Amazon is fighting the legal battle with Future is due to a previous deal it had with the retail giant back in 2019. According to the major e-commerce based firm, both Amazon and Future entered into a deal back in 2019, with one of the clauses prohibiting the Indian retailer from selling their assets to anyone on a “restricted persons” list that included Reliance. This led to a legal face off between the two corporations, which are led by two of the world’s richest men, Jeff Bezos and Mukesh Ambani.

Jeff Bezos

The result of this will also determine Amazon’s ability to eat away at Reliance’s dominance in the region. At the moment, the latter holds a 12,000 strong retail store network. Furthermore, Future had argued that it was not bound by an arbitrator’s order to put the deal on hold, despite Amazon pushing for the court to enforce the ruling to block the deal. As per Justice J. R. Midha, “This court is of the clear view that the (arbitration) order … is enforceable. All the concerned authorities are directed to maintain status quo.”

Jio to launch 5G service in India in second half of 2021: Mukesh Ambani

Sean — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 09:17:40 +0000

Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani has revealed that its telecom unit, Jio, will be launching its 5G service in India by the second half of next year.

As per the Indian billionaire, Jio will launch its 5G services in the company’s home country, which will stand as a “testimony” to the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) policy. Apart from being one of the first to launch 5G services in the region, the company is also working on launching an affordable lineup of Android smartphones in collaboration with Google, which will likely debut in the arriving months.

According to an NDTV report, Ambani believes that the policy steps were needed to to accelerate the roll out of 5G networking in India. He further added that, “I assure you that Jio will pioneer the 5G revolution in India in the second half of 2021. It will be powered by an indigenously developed network, hardware, and technology components.” For those unaware, Reliance Jio has been working on 5G network for a while now and is promising nationwide LT exclusive network coverage as well.

The company is also expected to be ahead of its rivals and other major carriers like Airtel and Vi. To bring the newer and faster bandwidth to the region, the telecom based firm will have to collaborate with industry giants like Qualcomm and Samsung, as stated by Ambani in the 43rd annual general meeting of Reliance Industries earlier this year. Jio already has the biggest market share in the Indian telecom market with a 35 percent share. The addition of 5G would only boost this further, with applications in areas like education, healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure, financial services, and new commerce.

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Amazon writes to SEBI about the violations of Future Group-Reliance Deal

Balaji S — Sat, 31 Oct 2020 16:08:48 +0000

Amazon is already in a tussle with the Indian retail conglomerate, Future Group, of India. After obtaining sanction from an arbitrator to stall the latter’s deal with Reliance Industries, it has now complained to SEBI of Future Group’s violations.

As per a Reuters’ report(via Gadgets360), Amazon wrote a letter to the Securities & Exchange Board of India(SEBI) Chairman Ajay Tyagi. In it, it says that Future Group’s news release and stock exchange disclosure violates Indian regulations. And it urges the regulator SEBI to investigate and “suspend review” of the deal with Reliance Industries. It says such disclosure misleads shareholders, perpetuates fraud for benefitting Biyanis'(promoter family of Kishore Biyani: CEO Future Group)alone.

Violative terms of Amazon-Future Group Deal

For the unaware, Amazon recently sent a Legal notice to India’s Retail company, Future Group. This is because the latter violated its agreement with Amazon in 2019. Accordingly, it had invested $200 million and had close to 49% stake in Future Coupons, its subsidiary. Additionally, as per the agreement, Amazon gained a 3.58% stake in Future Retail and held the right to refuse the latter’s deal with other parties. Also, there was a “restricted parties” list and Reliance was one of them.

Now, after Future Group announcing a sell-off of its retail assets worth $3.4 billion to Reliance Industries in August 2020, it reportedly violates the 2019 agreement. Accordingly, Amazon got an injunction to halt the deal with Reliance from a Singapore arbitrator which was agreed by both parties earlier. Besides, Reliance has said that it plans to enforce its rights and complete the deal without hassle.

Potential “Point of no-return” situation for Amazon

Coming back, among the participants, only a source of Future Group reportedly commented on the issue. It denied Amazon’s allegations saying there was no question of fraud/misleading shareholders. In their defense, the deal was due to their bad business during COVID-19, and to protect stakeholders’ interests.

Also, few Indian lawyers reportedly say Amazon’s arbitration requires the Indian court’s ratification. However, Amazon and the arbitrator, V K Rajah, a former attorney general of Singapore believe that the order is honorable, and binding. That said, Amazon is reportedly concerned about the aftereffects of the deal. It says it will lose prospects of becoming the single-largest shareholder of Future Group with more than 1,500 retail stores.

And if SEBI approves the deal by ignoring the arbitration order, it would reportedly be detrimental to Amazon causing irreparable harm and injury.

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