JIOFIN

May 27 (Reuters) - Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS:

• JIOBLACKROCK ASSET MANAGEMENT RECEIVES SEBI APPROVAL FOR MUTUAL FUNDS BUSINESS -STATEMENT

• SID SWAMINATHAN NAMED AS MD, CEO OF NEW ASSET MANAGEMENT CO OF JIOBLACKROCK ASSET MANAGEMENT-STATEMENT

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: RELI.NS

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April 17 (Reuters) - Jio Financial Services Ltd JIOF.NS:

• Q4 CONSOL PROFIT 3.16 BILLION RUPEES

• Q4 CONSOL TOTAL REV FROM OPS 4.93 BLN RUPEES

• DIVIDEND OF 0.5 RUPEE PER SHARE

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: JIOF.NS

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April 3 (Reuters) - Jio Financial Services Ltd JIOF.NS:

• TOTAL INVESTMENT IN JIO BLACKROCK JV REACHES 845 MILLION RUPEES

• CO AND BLACKROCK INVEST 665 MILLION RUPEES IN JOINT VENTURE

Source text: ID:nBSE8GzZHP

Further company coverage: JIOF.NS

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March 27 (Reuters) - Jio Financial Services Ltd JIOF.NS:

• INVESTS 10 BILLION RUPEES IN JIO FINANCE

Source text: ID:nBSEb1J9Lf

Further company coverage: JIOF.NS

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The authors are Reuters Breakingviews columnists. The opinions expressed are their own.

By Shritama Bose and Katrina Hamlin

MUMBAI, March 25 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Now is not the ideal time for Prudential PRU.L to take its Indian asset-management unit public. The London- and Hong Kong-listed insurer might be able to pocket a tidy sum, but it would be left with a smaller stake in a fast-growing corner of a key market.

Pru owns 49% of ICICI Prudential Asset Management, India's second-largest purveyor of mutual funds by assets under management. Majority owner ICICI Bank ICBK.NS is keen on retaining its controlling stake. Pru may seek a $12 billion valuation for the unit, Bloomberg reported earlier this month, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.

That looks punchy. The business may be worth almost 20% less than that, valuing last year's net profit of $298 million at 32 times earnings, the average multiple for a group of peers. That would peg Pru's stake at $4.6 billion.

There's an obvious short-term appeal for Pru in selling part of its holding. CEO Anil Wadhwani wants to improve returns for shareholders. He also wants to eliminate the last dregs of the valuation gap with Hong Kong-listed rival AIA 1299.HK, which back in 2021 traded at 24 times forward earnings versus Pru's 14 times. AIA's multiple has since plummeted to 11.5 times, with Pru's drop less dramatic to 9.7 times, per LSEG. Wadhwani's intention to hand net proceeds to his shareholders would at least achieve the first goal. But as a one-off payment, it's hardly sustainable.

Besides, ICICI Prudential is growing at a fast pace: funds under management rose 34% in 2024, a tad faster than the broader industry in India. Sustaining that would boost earnings for Pru over time and warrant a bigger price tag in the future. The timing isn't great either. Selling by offshore investors has pulled India's equity market off its highs, and companies are downsizing share sales.

It may be in Pru's best interests to float the business by giving up as little of its ownership as possible. Global money managers are doubling down to grab a slice of India's household savings. BlackRock has entered a joint venture with Mukesh Ambani's Jio Financial Services JIOF.NS. HSBC HSBA.L is deepening its branch network into "cities identified for their growing wealth pools". They're doing so because, despite recent blistering growth, mutual funds have so far reached less than 4% of India's population.

Pru's India listing may be well-intentioned, but the danger is that the insurer will look like it is swimming against the tide.

Follow @ShritamaBose on X

CONTEXT NEWS

Multinational insurer Prudential is considering seeking a valuation of $12 billion for ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company in an initial public offering of the Indian unit, Bloomberg reported on March 4, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.

Prudential on February 12 said it is evaluating a potential listing of the Indian asset manager, in which it holds 49%. The net proceeds from the float would be returned to shareholders, the insurer added.

(Editing by Antony Currie and Ujjaini Dutta)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/HAMLIN/[email protected] [email protected]))

By Dharamraj Dhutia

MUMBAI, March 21 (Reuters) - India's Jio Finance has postponed its plan to tap the corporate debt market to the next financial year starting April 1 due to elevated yields, two sources aware of the matter said on Friday.

The company, a wholly-owned unit of Jio Financial Services JIOF.NS, had issued its maiden commercial paper (CP) last week, and had plans to issue its first bond before the end of March.

Jio Finance's move comes days after Reuters reported that State Bank of India SBI.NS, the country's biggest lender by assets, shelved its own plan to raise 150 billion rupees ($1.74 billion) through a sale of bonds this fiscal year.

Jio Finance had plans to raise around 30 billion rupees through five-year bonds, and had floated an offer for a coupon of 7.75%, according to the bankers.

"Investors were not willing to bid at anything below 7.90%, but the company is not comfortable with these levels, and since there is no urgent need of money, they have decided to approach the market after April monetary policy," one source said.

The Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy decision is due on April 9, and the central bank is widely expected to cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points.

"Rates will correct once the new financial year starts, with the RBI set to reduce repo rate one more time, and with major focus on liquidity infusion, we should see some decent correction in short-term yields," the source said.

The sources requested anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to the media. Jio Finance did not immediately reply to a Reuters email for comment.

The non-banking financial company had raised 10 billion rupees through a three-month CP at a yield of 7.80%. Its bonds are rated 'AAA' and the CP is rated 'A1+' by Crisil and Care, both being the highest for the respective instruments.

Yields on corporate bonds rated 'AAA' are up by around 10 basis points since early February, despite the central bank's rate cut and cash infusion amid high supply of debt including from states.

($1 = 86.2250 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia; Editing by Varun H K)

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March 20 (Reuters) -

• ALLIANZ, JIO FINANCIAL SAID TO REACH INITIAL DEAL FOR INDIA JV - BLOOMBERG NEWS

Source text: https://tinyurl.com/sv7388bj

(([email protected];))

By Dharamraj Dhutia

MUMBAI, March 13 (Reuters) - India's Jio Finance, a wholly-owned unit of Jio Financial Services JIOF.NS, has tapped the debt market with its maiden commercial paper (CP) issuance, ahead of its debut bond sale later this month, three merchant bankers said on Thursday.

The non-banking finance company has issued three-month CPs at a yield of 7.80% and accepted bids worth 10 billion rupees ($114.95 million), the bankers, who have direct knowledge of the matter, told Reuters.

All of them requested anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

"As expected, Jio Finance has started its funding with a shorter-tenor CP issuance, and we are expecting its bond issue in the next 15 days before the close of the financial year (by March-end)," one of the bankers said.

Jio Finance could raise around 30 billion rupees through the sale of five-year bonds and has floated an offer for a coupon of 7.75%, according to the bankers.

"The company will speak to some investors and once it gets sufficient commitments, it will launch the issue," one of them added.

Jio Finance did not immediately reply to a Reuters email for comment.

The firm's bonds are rated 'AAA', while the CPs are rated 'A1+' by Crisil and Care. Both the ratings are of the highest grade for the respective instruments.

"The ratings factor in JFS (Jio Financial Services) group's healthy capital structure, robust liquidity including its holding of 6.1% of RIL (Reliance Industries) shares, and its experienced management team," Crisil had said in a rating note.

Care said the ratings also take into account the company's strong capital buffers to scale up operations, its robust liquidity framework and the management's experience.

($1 = 86.9950 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

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March 4 (Reuters) - Jio Financial Services Ltd JIOF.NS:

• JIO FINANCIAL SERVICES LTD - APPROVES ACQUISITION OF 79 MILLION JPBL SHARES FOR 1.05 BILLION RUPEES

• JIO FINANCIAL - JIO PAYMENTS BANK TO BECOME WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF CO

Source text: ID:nBSE6jwCV3

Further company coverage: JIOF.NS

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Feb 21 (Reuters) - Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd BPCL.NS:

• NSE: BPCL AND BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES BEING EXCLUDED FROM NIFTY 50

• NSE: JIO FINANCIAL SERVICES AND ZOMATO BEING INCLUDED IN NIFTY 50

• NSE: CHANGES IN NIFTY 50 STOCKS SHALL BECOME EFFECTIVE FROM MARCH 28

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: BPCL.NS

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By Aditya Kalra

NEW DELHI, Jan 25 (Reuters) - India's Religare Enterprises RELG.NS said a U.S. businessman has made a proposal to acquire a 26% stake in it, the latest twist in the battle for control of the financial services company which has rejected another bid as being priced too low.

The Indian billionaire Burman family, which has founded and controls consumer goods conglomerate Dabur India DABU.NS, raised its stake in Religare to nearly 25% in September 2023, triggering a so-called open offer to buy more shares.

Through the open offer process, which starts on Jan. 27, the Burmans plan to buy around 26% more of Religare to bolster their presence in India's rapidly growing financial services sector, but Religare's independent directors flagged this week the offer price of 235 rupees per share was too low.

In a stock exchange disclosure late on Friday, Religare shared a letter from U.S. entrepreneur Digvijay "Danny" Gaekwad's firm requesting permission from Indian market regulator SEBI to make an open offer of 275 rupees per share for the Indian company, a 17% premium to the current offer.

A representative of the Burman family, Mohit Burman, and the market regulator SEBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday. Florida-based Gaekwad did not immediately respond to a Reuters' email seeking comment outside of normal U.S. business hours.

Religare shares closed at 249.40 rupees on Friday, giving it a market value of 81.83 billion rupees ($949.30 million).

The Burmans, if they win control of Religare, will find themselves pitted against other Indian billionaire families in the financial services business, including Mukesh Ambani's Jio Financial Services JIOF.NS and family-controlled Bajaj Finance BJFN.NS.

But the Burmans' Religare bid has faced regulatory and legal challenges.

Earlier this week, Religare disclosed that a minority shareholder had approached the Delhi High Court, and was seeking to stop Burmans' open offer bid.

Legal papers show that the shareholder holds 500 shares in Religare, and the court on Tuesday issued a notice to Burmans and SEBI and said any subsequent action - such as an open offer - "shall be subject to the outcome" of the lawsuit.

($1 = 86.2000 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra and Siddhi Nayak; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

((Email: [email protected]; X: @adityakalra;))

Jan 21 (Reuters) - Jio Financial Services Ltd JIOF.NS:

• FURTHER SUBSCRIBED TO JIO BLACKROCK ASSET MANAGEMENT

• DEAL FOR 1.17 BILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSE2gzx2j

Further company coverage: JIOF.NS

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Jan 17 (Reuters) - Jio Financial Services Ltd JIOF.NS:

• Q3 CONSOL PROFIT 2.95 BILLION RUPEES

• Q3 CONSOL TOTAL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 4.38 BILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSEb26fVL

Further company coverage: JIOF.NS

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MUMBAI, Oct 29 (Reuters) - India's Jio Payment Solutions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Group firm Jio Financial Services JIOF.NS, has received the central bank's approval to operate as an online payment aggregator, Jio Financial said on Tuesday.

A payment aggregator is a third-party service provider that enables customers to make and businesses to accept payments online. Payment aggregators enable their clients to accept various payment methods such as debit cards, credit cards, cardless easy monthly installments, United Payments Interface transfers, bank transfers, e-wallets, and e-mandates.

The approval is effective Oct. 28.

Jio Financial was spun out of the Ambani-led Reliance Group last year.

(Reporting by Siddhi Nayak; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)

(([email protected]; +91 22 6921 7848; Reuters Messaging: X: https://twitter.com/siddhiVnayak))

Oct 23 (Reuters) -

• AMBANI'S JIO IN TALKS WITH ALLIANZ FOR INSURANCE JVS IN INDIA- BLOOMBERG NEWS

Source text: https://tinyurl.com/5b2k8sjb

(([email protected];))

BENGALURU, Oct 16 (Reuters) - BlackRock BLK.N, the world's biggest asset manager, is in talks with Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Group firm Jio Financial Services JIOF.NS to set up a private credit venture, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The two companies will form a 50-50 joint venture to lend to businesses ranging from large companies to startups, if talks materialise, the report said, adding that a final decision on the venture was yet to be made.

BlackRock declined to comment, while Jio Financial did not immediately respond a Reuters request for comment.

India is seeing strong demand for private credit with a growing number of Indian alternative investment funds expanding their businesses in the category, mirroring a pick-up in activity across Asia.

This would be the third JV between the U.S.-based asset management firm and the Indian financial services company, after they announced ventures to start asset management and broking businesses in India.

Earlier this month, the companies got approval of the country's markets regulator to act as co-sponsors and set up a mutual fund business in the country.

(Reporting by Nishit Navin; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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Oct 4 (Reuters) - Jio Financial Services Ltd JIOF.NS:

• SEBI GIVES APPROVAL TO CO, BLACKROCK TO ACT AS CO-SPONSORS AND SET UP MUTUAL FUND

• SEBI GIVES IN-PRINCIPLE APPROVAL TO CO, BLACKROCK FINANCIAL

Source text for Eikon: [ID:]

Further company coverage: JIOF.NS

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The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, Sept 20(Reuters Breakingviews) - Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spent much of the past decade lowering barriers to foreign investment in India. Yet a growing list of firms including BlackRock BLK.N, BMW BMWG.DE and Shein are expanding in the country in partnership with local tycoons. It tightens the grip powerful families have on the world’s fifth-largest economy, and sets them up as future global rivals to those knocking on their door.

On paper, the once-markedly socialist country is open for business. Its craving for capital is strong. Overseas companies in most sectors are free to enter the market on their own, unlike in China, where large swathes of the economy were kept off limits and where some sectors, like autos, were opened up on the condition that foreign companies found local partners.

The problem is, India’s federal political system and sheer cultural and geographical diversity means it remains a tricky place for international companies. Powerful families offer a shortcut to establishing a nationwide footprint, avoiding cut-throat domestic competition, or achieving both of those things.

BlackRock’s decision to re-enter India exemplifies the dilemma. The company run by Larry Fink, which manages over $10 trillion, is in the process of teaming up with Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Financial Services JIOF.NS in asset and wealth management. The U.S. company exited an Indian joint venture with DSP in 2018 because it didn’t have a path to control.

Fink is unlikely to have a path to control with Jio but the rapid financialisation of savings in recent years means the market is too attractive for BlackRock to ignore. Partnering with a tycoon is less risky for the U.S. company than trying to beat India’s richest man who wants to push into financial services and is known for obliterating competition.

The desire of foreign companies to defend their market position in India partly explains their rush to subscribe to fundraisings by Reliance’s RS.N business units in 2020. These include Facebook-owner Meta Platforms' META.O $5.7 billion purchase of a 10% stake in Reliance’s digital and telecoms business. India remains open for U.S. Big Tech but Indian companies are also flexing their muscles more in digital businesses from telecoms to e-commerce as more Indians get smartphones.

Elsewhere, New Delhi is encouraging partnerships through subsidies in its flagship production-linked incentive scheme to spur manufacturing. This allows the government to dictate which foreign companies team up with which Indian families to be the next leaders in future industries.

Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry 2317.TW, more widely known as Foxconn, pulled out of a joint venture last year to make chips with Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta VDAN.NS after widespread concerns about the Indian company’s debt and its ability to fund investments. Meanwhile, global companies like French oil giant TotalEnergies TTEF.PA are burnishing their green credentials by partnering with Indian tycoon Gautam Adani, who has big ambitions in renewable energy. Smoother access to subsidies is one reason companies including Japan’s Fujifilm 4901.T are scouting for local partners before they start production in India.

It’s significant that many of the new partnerships are in the realm of technology. Adani’s group will work with Israel’s Tower Semiconductor TSEM.TA to build a chip fabrication plant; German carmaker BMW and Tata Technologies TATE.NS plan to leverage Indian talent in IT to develop intellectual property that will drive cars of the future.

While India’s approach to inward investment differs from China’s in many ways, the country desires the same thing as its neighbour wanted from foreign multinationals: know-how.

The government yearns for the South Asian nation to become a manufacturing powerhouse. India’s leading business families also want to dominate in their home market and to break out as leaders on the global stage. After picking up a stake in UK telecom operator BT BT.L last month, Bharti Enterprises Chair Sunil Bharti Mittal told journalists India's government is continuously encouraging a handful of companies which have gone global to accelerate the process.

That sets up the potential for at least some of the new Indian alliances to sour, just as several Chinese joint ventures did. True, some foreign companies that ventured into the People’s Republic simply failed to keep up with fast-changing local consumer preferences. Others, though, said they were pressured into handing over technology to their private or state-backed joint venture partners, to local officials or to Chinese regulators as a condition for doing in business in the world’s second-largest economy.

That complaint took centre stage in a trade war launched in 2018 by then U.S. President Donald Trump. When Stellantis STLAM.MI ended its joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group 601238.SS in 2022, the European carmaker’s CEO Carlos Tavares blamed rising “political influence” in doing business with partners in China.

It is therefore perhaps unsurprising that Chinese companies have the least freedom to operate on their own in India. The government turned up the heat on companies from the People’s Republic after a deadly skirmish between the two countries’ militaries along the Himalayan border in 2020. This tension has resulted in some particularly eye-catching joint ventures struck by Chinese companies that want to continue to expand in the fast-growing Indian market.

Four years after New Delhi banned Shein’s app, the fast-fashion company which was founded in China is back in partnership with Ambani’s $240 billion Reliance Industries. Together they plan to digitise the supply chains of the conglomerate’s retailer, manufacture goods and export them to the world. Similarly, less than two years since India launched an investigation into a local unit of Chinese automotive giant SAIC Motor 600104.SS, the company finalised a joint venture in March to sell its MG-branded cars in partnership with Sajjan Jindal’s JSW Group.

New arrivals at least have some examples of successful foreign joint ventures in India to aspire to. Take $46 billion Maruti Suzuki MRTI.NS, purveyor of 40% of the country’s cars. This partnership with Japan’s Suzuki Motor 7269.T has delivered yearly returns to shareholders over the past decade, including dividends, which exceed those of the benchmark Nifty 50 Index. Meanwhile, Adani Wilmar ADAW.NS, the Adani group’s partnership with Singapore’s Wilmar WLIL.SI, established a quarter of a century ago, is behind India’s largest selling edible oil brand.

Outside of joint ventures, some foreign companies have had more luck than others on their own in India. South Korea’s Samsung 005930.KS has had remarkable success selling smartphones and held a leading position in the consumer electronics market for a long time, but British telecom operator Vodafone VOD.L struggled with a price war and merged with India’s Idea Cellular in 2018. Whether or not India is open for business, foreign business alliances are accumulating even more power in the hands of the country’s leading tycoons.

Follow @ShritamaBose on X

(Editing by Una Galani and Ujjaini Dutta)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/
[email protected]))

Aug 30 (Reuters) - JIO FINANCIAL SERVICES EXECUTIVE JIOF.NS:

• JIO FINANCIAL EXEC: JIO PAYMENT SOLUTIONS PURSUING MERCHANT TIE-UPS

• JIO FINANCIAL EXEC: BLACKROCK JV WILL HELP BRING MORE INVESTMENT PRODUCTS

• JIO FINANCIAL EXEC: KEY LEADERSHIP IDENTIFIED FOR BLACKROCK JV

• JIO FINANCIAL EXEC: IN ADVANCED STAGES OF GO TO MARKET STRATEGY FOR BLACKROCK JV

• JIO FINANCIAL EXEC: HOPEFUL OF GETTING REGULATORY APPROVALS FOR THE BUSINESS WITH BLACKROCK

• JIO FINANCIAL EXEC: JIO PAYMENT SOLUTIONS PURSUING MERCHANT TIE-UPS

• JIO FINANCIAL EXEC: BLACKROCK JV WILL HELP BRING MORE INVESTMENT PRODUCTS

• JIO FINANCIAL EXEC: KEY LEADERSHIP IDENTIFIED FOR BLACKROCK JV

• JIO FINANCIAL EXEC: IN ADVANCED STAGES OF GO TO MARKET STRATEGY FOR BLACKROCK JV

• JIO FINANCIAL EXEC: HOPEFUL OF GETTING REGULATORY APPROVALS FOR THE BUSINESS WITH BLACKROCK

(([email protected];))

Updates with closing share price

By Indranil Sarkar and VarunVyas Hebbalalu

BENGALURU, Aug 29 (Reuters) - India's Reliance Industries RELI.NS is on track to more than double in size before the end of the decade, its billionaire-chairman Mukesh Ambani told shareholders on Thursday.

Reliance, which is India's most valuable company with a market capitalisation of $245.44 billion, said it expects to double sales and operating profit in its telecom and retail businesses over the next three to four years as it unveiled measures to step up its adoption of artificial intelligence.

As well as developing a suite of AI tools and platforms called 'Jio Brain' and setting up data centres in the western state of Gujarat, which it plans to power with green energy, Reliance will also partner with global tech firms.

"Our goal is to create the world's lowest AI inferencing cost, right here in India. This will make AI applications in India more affordable than anywhere else," Ambani said during the company's annual general meeting.

Inferencing is how live data is run through a trained AI model to make a prediction or solve a task.

Reliance shares rose by as much as 2.5% after it also said it plans to consider issuing bonus shares to its existing shareholders at a 1:1 ratio, its first such move since 2017.

The shares pared some of those gains later to close 1.5% higher at 3,041.85 rupees.

While the AI and cloud-related efforts will help Reliance's telecom arm Jio retain customers, they are "expected evolutions" which have already been implemented by competitors, said Balaji Subramanian, a research analyst at IIFL Securities.

"Those are all incrementally positive, but the AGM today, at least from a Jio perspective, was not groundbreaking," he added.

Retail and telecoms are two of Reliance's largest businesses, with the former making up nearly a third of its first-quarter revenue, while digital services provided by Jio contributed 15%.

Jio, launched in 2007, has become the market leader in Indian telecoms, surpassing Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS and Vodafone Idea VODA.NS to boast the largest subscriber base.

Reliance Retail, which owns e-commerce platforms with JioMart and stores under labels from Reliance Digital to Smart Bazaar, has become India's largest retailer by revenue, offering Indians just about everything.

Reliance also said it expects its new energy business to become as profitable as its oils-to-chemicals unit over the next 5-7 years.

Meanwhile, Ambani welcomed Disney's DIS.N $8.5 billion-merger with Reliance's media assets to form India's largest entertainment group, which was approved on Wednesday by the country's antitrust authority.

"Just like Jio and Retail, our expanded Media business will be an invaluable growth centre in the Reliance ecosystem," he said.

($1 = 83.8800 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Indranil Sarkar and Varun Hebbalalu in Bengaluru; editing by Jason Neely, David Goodman, Dhanya Skariachan and Alexander Smith)

(([email protected]; Mobile: +91 7022132226;))

Aug 27 (Reuters) - Jio Financial Services Ltd JIOF.NS:

• UNIT INVESTED IN 6,75,00,000, 8.1% SHARES OF RELIANCE INTERNATIONAL LEASING IFSC

• DEAL WORTH 675 MILLION RUPEES

• INVESTMENT IS MADE TO FUND BUSINESS OPERATIONS OF RILIL

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE1gn3Q2

Further company coverage: JIOF.NS

(([email protected];))

July 15 (Reuters) - Jio Financial Services Ltd JIOF.NS:

• COMMENCED BUSINESS OF LEASING AIRFIBER DEVICES IN JUNE 2024

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE8gtb2B

Further company coverage: JIOF.NS

(([email protected];))

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

By Una Galani

Singapore, July 12 (Reuters Breakingviews) - If you've got it, you can flaunt it in India. Anant Ambani, a director of $260 billion Reliance Industries RELI.NS and youngest son of Asia's richest man, is marrying his long-time girlfriend Radhika Merchant this week in Mumbai. It caps at least seven months of extravagant celebrations. Most eye-catching, though, is the acceptance of the extreme show of wealth in a deeply inequitable society.

Some 100 private planes may be used to bring guests to the ceremony at the Jio World Centre, opened in 2022 and part of Reliance; roads in the financial district around it have been closed for the event. It follows a pre-wedding bash in March in Gujarat near the family's petroleum refinery, and another, a luxury European cruise, in May. Those invited include Saudi Aramco 2223.SE CEO Amin Nasser, Samsung Electronics' 005930.KS Jay Y.Lee, and HSBC HSBA.L Chair Mark Tucker, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter. Rihanna and Justin Bieber are among the stars who have already performed.

The celebrations are not to everyone's taste, but they spark aspiration and provide entertainment in a country that loves big weddings. They also advertise India's vibrant capitalist spirit.

China's President Xi Jinping, meanwhile, is promoting "common prosperity" to close a wealth gap: flashy weddings have been out of vogue in the world's second-largest economy since an anti-corruption drive started roughly a decade ago. Instead of asking India's wealthy to tone it down, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is calling on tycoons to wed in India rather than overseas to support the national economy - and its $50 billion wedding industry.

True, the Ambanis are uniquely placed to show off and get away with it. Reliance's foray into new businesses in recent years has burnished the family's reputation with hundreds of millions of consumers; the conglomerate has launched price wars against Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS, Amazon AMZN.O and Netflix NFLX.O, provided low-cost mobile data, and aired the Indian Premier League cricket for free. Last week, the family hosted a mass-wedding for 50 underprivileged couples.

Indeed, India's poor are not to be ignored. Their dissatisfaction arguably cost Modi his electoral majority in June; politicians are keenly aware of the urgent challenge of raising incomes and providing better jobs. One survey, somewhat controversially, concludes the gap between haves and have-nots in India is worse than during British colonial rule. The top 1% gathered almost 23% of national income in 2022, the highest level since 1922. That proportion compares with about 16% in China, according to a report co-authored by economist Thomas Piketty. For now, India still has the luxury of celebrating its rich.

Follow @ugalani on X

CONTEXT NEWS

Anant Ambani, son of Reliance Industries Chair Mukesh Ambani, will wed his long-time girlfriend, Radhika Merchant, this week in Mumbai.

The wedding on July 12 will feature traditional Hindu rituals, and the reception will be held over two days. On Monday, there will be a "special reception" for Ambani's household staff, according to a document detailing the plans.

Rajan Mehra, chief executive of Club One Air, said the Ambanis have hired three of his company's Falcon-2000 jets to ferry wedding guests and expects more than 100 private planes to be used for the events.

Last week, Canadian pop star Justin Bieber performed for hundreds of guests at a private pre-wedding concert. Rihanna sang at a three-day celebration in March in Jamnagar near Reliance's main oil refinery in the Western state of Gujarat, where Bill Gates and Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg were among 1,200 guests. In May, the Ambanis hosted a pre-wedding European cruise with 800 guests including Bollywood stars and cricketers.

(Editing by Antony Currie and Aditya Srivastav)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on GALANI/
[email protected]))

By Dhwani Pandya and Aditya Kalra

MUMBAI, July 10 (Reuters) - When the son of Asia's richest person Mukesh Ambani gets married in Mumbai this week, traffic in a key part of the city will literally stop for the four-day extravaganza to be attended by celebrities, business elite and politicians.

The wedding of the billionaire's youngest son Anant Ambani, 29, and his long-time girlfriend Radhika Merchant, 29, is the culmination of lavish celebrations throughout the year and according to police, has been deemed a "public event" due to the presence of international and Indian VIPs.

Raising the ire of locals, roads near the venue - the upmarket Jio World Convention Centre owned by Ambani's Reliance conglomerate in Mumbai's central business district - will be open only for "event vehicles" between 1 p.m. and midnight July 12-15.

And that's despite Mumbai being notorious for its congested traffic, particularly at this time of year during the monsoon season.

Traffic already has slowed around the immediate area around the venue which is being adorned with decorative lights and red flowers. Marigolds and bright yellow lights have also been used to decorate the trees outside Ambani's 27-storey mansion, Antilia, in Mumbai.

While organisers have been tight-lipped about who will attend, it's expected to be a star-studded event.

Last week, Justin Bieber performed for hundreds of guests at a private pre-wedding concert. The Canadian pop star also had photos taken with the bride and groom who wore haute couture versions of traditional Indian attire.

In March, Rihanna sang at separate three-day pre-wedding celebrations in western Gujarat state. Bill Gates and Meta's META.O Mark Zuckerberg were among the 1,200 guests at that event. And in May, the Ambanis organised a pre-wedding luxury European cruise with 800 guests including Bollywood stars and cricketers.

Videos and photos of recent celebrations - including a video of the Ambani family lip syncing and dancing to a Bollywood song as well as one of Mukesh Ambani and his wife driving along with their grandchildren - have flooded social media and are being extensively covered by Indian media.

Friday's wedding will feature traditional Hindu rituals and the reception will be held over two days. On Monday, there will be a "special reception" for Ambani's household staff, according to a document detailing the plans.

Rajan Mehra, chief executive of Club One Air, said the Ambanis have hired three of his company's Falcon-2000 jets to ferry wedding guests and expects 100 plus private planes to be used for the events.

"The guests are coming from all over and each aircraft will make multiple trips across the country," he said.

For some Mumbai residents, it's all too much with social media buzzing with complaints.

"How can it be a public event? Surprised by special treatment on the pain of normal public," asked one user on X.

"If it is a public event, can I go inside??," asks another.

(Reporting by Dhwani Pandya and Aditya Kalra; Additional reporting by Tanvi Mehta and Francis Mascarenhas; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

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BENGALURU, July 1 (Reuters) - India's market regulator proposed a series of easier rules for passively managed mutual fund schemes on Monday, looking to reduce the compliance burden, encourage competition and ease the entry of funds seeking to launch only less risky schemes.

The proposed rules could be an incentive for asset managers like Vanguard to enter the Indian market. Last July, Blackrock BLK.N, the world's largest money manager, tied up with Mukesh Ambani's Jio Financial Services JIOF.NS, to launch a fund house in the country.

Fund houses can hive off their passive mutual fund schemes -- which replicate indexes and leave less discretion for fund managers -- to adhere to less strict rules and reduce compliance costs, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) proposed in a paper seeking comments.

Passive funds will have relaxed portfolio disclosure requirements, scheme disclosures and advertising code, the regulator said.

The SEBI is also seeking to reduce the net worth requirement for asset managers managing only passive schemes to 350 million rupees ($4.20 million) from 500 million rupees earlier.

It proposed lowering that requirement further to 250 million rupees if the asset manager was profitable for the past five years.

The regulator has also proposed introducing hybrid passive funds, which will replicate a composite index comprising fixed proportions of equity and debt, the paper said.

The SEBI has invited comments on the proposals until July 22.

($1 = 83.4301 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Chris Thomas and Jayshree P Upadhyay; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

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Adds Vodafone Idea tariff hike in paragraph 3, updates shares in paragraph 10

By Kashish Tandon and Hritam Mukherjee

BENGALURU, June 28 (Reuters) - Reliance's RELI.NS Jio, Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS and Vodafone Idea, India's three largest telecom operators, raised their tariffs for the first time in three years, aiming to begin recouping the billions poured into 5G technology over two years.

Bharti Airtel and market leader Jio said they would raise tariffs by 10%-21% and 13%-27%, respectively.

No.3 player Vodafone Idea VODA.NS said it would increase tariffs between 10% and 23% across seventeen prepaid and post-paid plans, effective July 4.

India is the world's second-largest smartphone market, but has among the cheapest tariffs. Jio's strategy of rock-bottom prices to lure subscribers meant its peers had to follow or risk losing out by raising prices.

While the companies have not raised tariffs since 2021, they have spent heavily on boosting their infrastructure and even more on acquiring spectrum, including 5G airwaves for the first time in 2022, a year after the last round of tariff hikes.

The 5G roll-out alone would have cost the companies around 1.5 trillion rupees (roughly $18 billion) but their return on investment will have been in single digits, estimated Balaji Subramanian, a research analyst at IIFL Securities.

Jio's price rise, its third in five years, should boost its average revenue per user (ARPU) by about 17% over the next year, Morgan Stanley said in a note dated June 27.

Jio's ARPU stood at 182 rupees in the January-March quarter. Bharti Airtel reported an ARPU of 209 rupees, a result of it switching strategy a few years ago to focus on higher-paying subscribers.

Vodafone Idea had the lowest ARPU at 146 rupees.

Vodafone Idea's shares closed down 3.4% on Friday, while Bharti Airtel closed down 2.2%. Jio-parent Reliance's shares closed 2.3% higher.

($1 = 83.4550 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon, Hritam Mukherjee and Ashna Britto in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Savio D'Souza, Janane Venkatraman and Shounak Dasgupta)

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BENGALURU, June 21 (Reuters) - Shareholders of India's Reliance Industries RELI.NS approved a deal worth $4.3 billion between its units Reliance Retail and Jio Financial Services (JFS) JIOF.NS, according to a disclosure with stock exchanges on Friday.

JFS plans to acquire equipment worth 360 billion rupees from Reliance Retail, as the financial services provider plans to enter the device leasing business.

Through the deal, JFS' unit - Jio Leasing Services - will buy customer premises equipment, devices and telecom equipment such as routers and cell phones.

Separately, shareholders of the billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led company also approved the re-appointment of Yasir Othman Al Rumayyan, the chairman of Saudi Aramco 2223.SE, as an independent director for a second term of five consecutive years.

($1 = 83.5400 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

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June 19 (Reuters) - Jio Financial Services Ltd JIOF.NS:

• APPROVED APPOINTMENT OF S. ANANTHARAMAN AS GROUP CHIEF RISK OFFICER

Further company coverage: JIOF.NS

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By Nivedita Bhattacharjee

BENGALURU, June 13 (Reuters) - A joint venture between Reliance Industries' RELI.NS Jio Platforms and Luxembourg-based SES SESFg.LU to provide gigabit fibre internet has won approval from the Indian space regulator to operate satellites there, a government executive said.

The three approvals issued to Orbit Connect India - which aims to provide satellite-based high-speed internet access - come as companies from Amazon.com AMZN.O to Elon Musk's Starlink have been vying for the go-ahead to launch satellite communication services in the world's most populous nation.

The authorisations have not been previously reported. They were granted in April and June from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, known as IN-SPACe. These allow Orbit Connect to operate satellites above India, but further approvals are needed by the country's department of telecoms to begin operations.

Reliance, which owns Jio, did not respond to an email seeking further details.

Inmarsat, another company hoping to provide high-speed satellite-based internet, has also gotten approval to operate satellites over India, IN-SPACe chairman Pawan Goenka told Reuters. Two other companies, Elon Musk's Starlink and Amazon.com's AMZN.O Kuiper, have applied.

Eutelsat's ETL.PA Bharti Enterprises-backed OneWeb was given all of its approvals late last year.

India's satellite broadband service market is expected to grow 36% per year over the next five years and reach $1.9 billion by 2030, according to the consultancy Deloitte.

Globally, the race to connect rural areas of the world via space-based internet is accelerating. Amazon plans to invest $10 billion in Kuiper, which was announced in 2019, the year SpaceX began deploying its first operational Starlink satellites.

Last week, Sri Lanka gave Starlink preliminary approval to provide internet services there.

Goenka said the more companies were involved in the sector in India, the better off consumers would be.

"Comparatively low pricing of communication services in India will compel global players to drive innovation to reduce their pricing," said Goenka, the former managing director of automaker Mahindra & Mahindra MAHM.NS.

"This is already being done in many industries like automotive, where multinational OEMs had to innovate to meet the expectations of Indian consumers of high performance and low cost."

IN-SPACe will also soon authorise private companies to operate ground stations, he said, which would enable satellite operators to download data as they pass over India.

Prime Minister Modi's government, which just won a rare third term, has been pushing the development of India's space industry.

This year, it opened the gates for foreign direct investment in the sector, saying outside companies could invest in the manufacture of components and systems or sub-systems for satellites up to 100% without approval.

As a result, investors' interest has "significantly increased", Goenka said.

"Last year investments into private companies were $2 million-$7 million. This year they are talking $20 million-$30 million," he said. "The proof of concept has happened."

(Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Gerry Doyle)

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Adds details on leasing plant in paragraph 4

BENGALURU, May 24 (Reuters) - Jio Financial Services (JFS) JIOF.NS is seeking shareholder approval for its unit to acquire equipment worth 360 billion rupees ($4.33 billion) from the retail arm of Reliance Industries RELI.NS as the financial services provider plans to enter the device leasing business, a postal ballot notice said.

Under the proposed deal, the JFS unit called Jio Leasing Services will buy telecom equipment and devices that usually include routers and cell phones.

The JFS subsidiary will rent out the equipment it buys to customers of Reliance Jio Infocomm - Reliance's telecommunications arm - the financial services company further said.

Jio Financial, spun out of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Group last year, had said in its earnings investor presentation that it will lease Jio Infocomm's AirFiber wifi services, phones, and laptops among other products.

This company will compete in the device-rental market with the likes of Hewlett Packard HPE.N and Lenovo 0992.HK.

Voting on proposed items in the notice ends on June 22. The deal is expected to go through in the financial years 2025 and 2026.

($1 = 83.1284 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Varun Hebbalalu in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)

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