Google Invests US$4.5 Billion In India's Jio Platforms

By Shakir Husain NEW DELHI, July 16 (Bernama) -- Google has signed an agreement to invest US$4.5 billion in Jio Platforms Ltd, taking a 7.73 per cent stake in the company owned by India’s richest businessman Mukesh Ambani. The US technology giant said it is the first investment from the recently-created Google For India Digitisation Fund to invest in opportunities in India's digital economy. Jio Platforms, a majority-owned subsidiary of Ambani conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd, and Google have also entered into an agreement to jointly develop an entry-level smartphone optimised for the Android operating system and Play Store. "The pace and scale of digital transformation in India is hugely inspiring for us and reinforces our view that building products for India first helps us build better products for users everywhere," Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Google and Alphabet, said in a joint statement on Wednesday. "I am excited that our joint collaboration will focus on increasing access for hundreds of millions of Indians who don’t currently own a smartphone while improving the mobile experience for all," he said. With the Google investment, the total investment from financial and strategic investors into Jio Platforms has reached around 1,520 billion rupees (US$20.2 billion), according to Reliance Industries. -- BERNAMA