Jio Financial Services Looks to Enter Device Leasing Market with $4.3 Billion Acquisition of Telecom Equipment and Devices from Reliance Retail

Jio Financial Services, a technology-led business that offers digital financial services, is planning to enter the device leasing market. The company is seeking shareholder approval to acquire 360 billion rupees ($4.33 billion) worth of telecom equipment and devices from Reliance Retail, including routers and cell phones. This move will put Jio Financial Services in competition with firms like Hewlett Packard and Lenovo in the device rental market. The voting on this proposal will end on June 22.

Jio Financial Services was spun out of the Reliance Group in 2023, focusing on digital financial services to attract investors interested in FinTech and digital lending. The company is led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani and operates as a technology-led business delivering financial products digitally through Reliance’s consumer businesses. In recent years, Jio Financial Services has been expanding its operations by launching new products and services, such as a joint venture with BlackRock to launch a wealth management and brokering business in India.

Reliance Retail, a unit of Reliance Industries, has also been making strides in the retail space. The company recently partnered with SBI Card to launch a co-branded credit card on India’s RuPay payment network, marking its entry into the credit card space. The card offers rewards at Reliance Retail’s 18,650 stores and was introduced at a time when credit card spending was on the rise and cards in the RuPay network had increased by nearly 20% year over year.