RIL outlines key data monetisation drivers of Jio Platforms
3 min read . Updated: 23 Jun 2020, 09:38 PM ISTThe combined capital raised has no precedence globally in such a short time, said RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani in a note to investors
Following the high profile investments by global VCs in Jio Platforms, parent Reliance Industries Limited outlined some of the larger digital capacities of the company including focus on small and medium businesses (SMBs) in their annual report released today. The company also noted the formation of a new business segment to synchronise the data from Reliance Retail and Reliance Jio into financial service offerings.
The combined capital raised has no precedence globally in such a short time, said RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani in a note to investors.
“Recognising the pivotal role of Reliance Jio in India’s digital transformation, global technology giants Microsoft and Facebook have partnered with us. With Facebook, the strategic focus of the partnership is India’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), farmers, small merchants and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the informal sector," wrote Ambani.
Additionally, the partnerships will empower people and enterprises seeking state-of-the-art digital services. Marquee technology-focused investors have also endorsed RIL’s strategic direction with significant equity investments into Jio Platforms Ltd, he said.
Building on this success, Reliance Jio is rolling out its state-of-the-art wireline services across homes and enterprises.
“All this will help lay a strong foundation for offering platform-based digital services. To further facilitate this from the perspective of business organisation, Jio has consolidated all its technology capabilities, investments and connectivity business into a single holding company called Jio Platforms Limited," said Ambani.
The company also noted the reorganisation of some internal business segments to create a new “Financial Services" segment during the FY20 fiscal. This financial services segment achieved a turnover of ₹1,271 crore and an EBIT of ₹473 crore in FY 2019-20.
“The strategy of the Financial Services business centres around creating tailor-made financial products and offering them as extensions of other products that are being offered to customers in the anchor ecosystem of Reliance’s consumer businesses. The anchor ecosystem of Jio (387.5 million customers), and Reliance Retail (11,784 stores) provides a strong distribution channel for financial products," said the report.
The report further highlighted the larger connected ecosystem that the company is building towards across their newest offering JioMart. Jio has created internal capabilities across the following key digital technologies: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Big Data, Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR), Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), edge computing, speech/natural language, super computing, computer vision, robotics and drones.
Jio introduced a charge of 6 paise/minute on all off-net outgoing voice minutes to pass through the impact of change in regulatory stance on IUC in October 2019. This has led to a significant improvement in voice traffic mix as "misusers" of free voice services have left the network and Jio is now a net receiver of IUC although the reported growth in average revenue per user was far below analyt estimates. In the next phase of the connectivity rollout, Jio will offer state-of-the-art wireline services across fibre to the home to 50 million homes and 15 million Enterprises.
Till date, Jio has filed 134 patents for the pioneering initiatives it has undertaken, of which 29 have been granted. In FY 2019-20 alone, Jio filed for 31 patents and was granted 10. These patents span across devices, network, cloud, digital media, branding and customer experience. Jio’s patents cover areas of cutting-edge technology, including IoT, 5G, video bots, Blockchain, NFV and Evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (eMBMS). The startups that Jio has invested in raised over $100 million in funds during the fiscal.
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