RIL's demerged entity, Jio Financial Services, to enter consumer finance with pilot project at Reliance Digital outlets

Reliance Jio, the telecom group owned by Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani and his elder son Akash Ambani, has launched a pilot project in consumer durables at select Reliance Digital outlets before a full-fledged launch of Jio Financial Services later this year. 

Under the pilot programme, the customers buying electronic gadgets from Reliance Digital outlets will get the option to buy home appliances, electronic gadgets on EMIs, a report in the Economic Times said.  

With the launch of Jio Financial Services' pilot run, Mukesh Ambani is seeking to challenge established financiers in the retail lending sector, such as Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, Kotak Finance, and others.  

The new financial arm was formed after the demerger of Reliance’s financial services business. In May this year, Mukesh Ambani secured the approval of shareholders and creditors of the company to demerge Reliance Strategic Investments Ltd (RSIL) from Reliance Industries (RIL). RSIL will be renamed as Jio Financial Services which is expected to list on bourses by October 2023. 

The report said Jio is planning to offer several exciting offers in order to attract customers, which will ultimately help in increasing the Reliance Retail, which is led by Isha Ambani, business margins.  

Jio’s entry into financial services business 

Reliance Industries approved the demerger of the financial services arm in October 2022. Veteran Banker KV Kamath will be the non-executive chairman of the demerged entity. 

Since the announcement, experts have said that JFSL will likely increase competitive intensity in retail lending in NBFC and fintech space by leveraging the nationwide omni-channel presence of Reliance’s consumer businesses. 

The financial services undertaking has investments in six companies - Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Limited (RIIHL), Reliance Payment Solutions, Jio Payments Bank, Reliance Retail Finance, Jio Information Aggregator Services and Reliance Retail Insurance Broking. 

Once demerged, Macquarie expects the entity to be the fifth-largest financial services company by net worth with a market value of Rs 10.84 lakh crore. JFSL shares could be listed in October, a Bloomberg report stated earlier. Each Reliance shareholder will receive one share of Jio Financial in the listing for every share they own.

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