oppn parties Jio Platforms Shows The Way

News Snippets

  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Tragedy in Kolkata: Stampede at the Chor Bagan Pujo results in 18 people losing their lives and scores injured /////// The stampede was caused by a sudden downpour which made people in the heavy crowd run for cover
oppn parties
Jio Platforms Shows The Way

By Ashwini Agarwal
First publised on 2020-07-16 13:16:16

Google CEO Sundar Pichai committed to investing Rs 75,000 crore in India after his recent talk with Prime Minister Modi. Out of this, Google is investing Rs 33,737 crore in Jio Platforms. Although this was reported in the media a day before, the exact amount of investment was confirmed by Mukesh Ambani at the AGM of the Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) yesterday. This gives Google a 7.7% stake in the RIL subsidiary and a seat on the board. It puts the value of Jio Platforms at Rs 4.36 lakh crore.

In a period of extraordinary consolidation, Mukesh Ambani has kept his word and is on track to make RIL completely debt-free. In Jio Platforms alone, investors have committed Rs 152,056 crore, making it the largest investment by investors in a startup. It also gives the company the strength to take up all its projects with a renewed zeal.

Google is also going to help Jio with the design and manufacture of low-cost entry-level smartphones to help the vision of "a smartphone for every Indian" and help in further increasing the penetration of the internet in India. The two will also develop and optimize the Android operating system. The deal is a win-win situation for both as Google can leverage Jio's enormous content bank while Jio can ride on Google's technology.

By getting big names to commit enormous amounts as an equity investment in Jio, RIL has shown that an Indian startup need not depend on Chinese funds to scale up. If the idea is scalable and the product is viable, it is possible to attract the top technical giants to invest. Of course, every startup founder is not Mukesh Ambani, but he has shown that it can be done. Obviously the valuation and the quantum of investment will be much smaller in other startups, but if they have the idea and the product, they too can now hope to attract the US tech giants directly.