Facebook recently announced that it had invested $5.7 billion( ₹43,574)in Reliance Jio Platform, which is a part of the wider portfolio of the Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries.
According to a blog post by the social networking giant, the biggest reason behind the deal that made Facebook as its largest minority shareholder is to combine the powers of WhatsApp and JioMart to “enable people to connect and help with businesses launch, shop and ultimately purchase the products in a hassle-free mobile experience.”
Having an Instant Messaging(IM) platform go beyond its chat capabilities is common in the mobile networks nowadays. Tencent — a Chinese giant and the owner of WeChat — a massive platform that makes it possible for over a billion users to communicate with each other, purchase via online payment methods, or even allows them to make offline payments.
Facebook’s investment in the Indian market is not a surprise, as WhatsApp presently has more than 400 million(40 crores) users in the country. Ajit Mohan, VP and Managing Director Facebook in India, and David Fischer, Chief Revenue Officer at Facebook, gave us a count of the WhatsApp users. They said that in less than a span of four years, Jio has brought in over 388 million (38.8 crores) subscribers, and in the last five years, more than half a billion people got access to the internet.
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