Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)-led consortium is planning to take its proposed New Umbrella Entity (NUE) global. The consortium comprising Google, Facebook and Infibeam Avenue will likely offer its payment services overseas.
The NUE, if granted an operating licence, is going to be positioned against global payments giants such as Mastercard and Visa in some markets.
"RIL has already started weaving a long-term plan with NUE, which should generate many leads for the future," a source told ET.
Also Read: RIL partners with Google, Facebook to apply for NUE to launch payments network
The NUE will be jointly promoted by an RIL unit and Infibeam Avenue subsidiary So Hum Bharat along with Google and Facebook. Reliance Industries is expected to own 40 per cent, while the other three companies are likely to hold around 20 per cent each.
"RIL is now focusing on building the company roping in veteran experienced hands as the association of Google and Facebook could pave way for their global ambition," another source told the publication.
The RIL-led consortium had applied for the licence last week, besides five other consortiums namely - Tata Group, Axis-ICICI Bank, Paytm, India Post, and fintech startup iserveU, to set up a national payments infrastructure in India.
Also Read: Paytm, Ola join forces to apply for NUE licence
An NUE licence would help the awardees gain greater autonomy in processing digital payments in India.
As per a study by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), India's digital economy was assessed to be $200 billion, or 8 per cent of GDP, in 2018 and is likely to swell to 18-23 per cent of GDP by 2025. Meanwhile, the RBI anticipates more NUE payment networks will help fortify digital adoption in the country.