Mukesh Ambani targets millions with financial services via super-app
Financial Express Mumbai|August 23, 2023
MUKESH AMBANI, ASIA'S richest man, is breaking ground in India's $1.8 trillion financial sector.
P R SANJAI & PREETI SINGH
Mukesh Ambani targets millions with financial services via super-app

His Reliance Industries listed the conglomerate's new financial services unit on Monday, paving the way to create the nation's largest nonbanking lender and reshaping the way financial services are delivered to small merchants and average Indians.

Although Reliance's plans for Jio Financial Services are still in flux, the company ultimately wants to develop India's version of WeChat, a super-app that centralises online shopping, video streaming, digital financing and stock trading, people familiar with the plans have said.Jio Financial was recently valued at $20 billion, though the stock underperformed during its trading debut on Monday.

Jio Financial's expansion marks the latest attempt by Ambani to pivot further away from Reliance's traditional energy business and toward other consumer-facing sectors.

But what may become India's biggest non-bank financial services company could also find itself competing head-on with the newly merged HDFC and established lenders, including ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, considering a large swath of the South Asian nation's 1.4 billion people still don't have a credit card or even a bank account.

One of Reliance's advantages is its enormous reach.

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