Jio Financial Services Invests INR 190 Cr In Jio Payments Bank

Days after getting complete ownership of Jio Payments Bank Ltd (JPBL), fintech major Jio Financial Services (JFS) has invested INR 190 Cr in the bank. 

In an exchange filing, JFS said it made the investment by purchasing 19 Cr equity shares worth INR 10 apiece of its wholly owned subsidiary. 

The investment comes less than a week after the company took control of the bank by acquiring SBI’s stake for INR 104.5 Cr. The transaction, which was completed on June 18, saw JFS buy 7.9 Cr shares at INR 13.2 in the bank from SBI. 

Ahead of the official announcement of the merger completion, Jio Payments Bank was integrated with JFS’ fintech app, JioFinance. “We are evolving to serve you better. We’ve made managing your finances easier by consolidating all our updates and resources into one place. Now, everything you need for smarter, simpler finance is at Jio Finance,” Jio Payments Bank said in a post on X in February this year. 

Subsequently in March, JFS announced that it will be buying SBI’s 17.8% stake in the bank to incorporate it officially as a wholly owned subsidiary. Important to mention that the Jio Payments Bank was set up in a 77:23 partnership between Reliance Industries and SBI in 2016. 

In August 2024, JFS increased its stake in Jio Payments Bank to 82.2% by purchasing 6.8 Cr equity shares of the bank for INR 68 Cr from SBI. Then, on March 27, JFS invested INR 85 Cr in the bank to increase its holding to 85.04%

JioFinance has been aggressively promoting the internet banking services of Jio Payments Bank on JioFinance since it became a wholly owned subsidiary of JFS. 

To note, JFS launched the super app in June last year in beta mode. While the app started with digital banking, UPI transactions, bill settlements, and insurance advisory, the fintech major added other product layers like SIP on gold (Jio Gold SIP), loans, among others, later. 

Besides, JFS is also preparing to enter new areas like wealth management, asset management, and stock broking.

After it entered into a joint venture (JV) agreement with BlackRock to foray into the thriving mutual fund space of India in 2023, the JV got SEBI’s nod in May this year to commence operations.

Subsequently, Jio BlackRock Asset Management filed documents with SEBI to launch two new mutual fund schemes – JioBlackRock Liquid Fund and JioBlackRock Money Market Fund.

Meanwhile, Jio BlackRock Investment Advisers Pvt Ltd, another JV between JFS and BlackRock, also received SEBI approval this month to function as an investment adviser.

The two companies have also entered into an agreement to enter the stock broking segment.

Shares of JFS ended today’s trading session up 0.80% from previous close at INR 303.25.