Jio Financial Services Set To Disrupt Insurance, Payments, And Asset Management Businesses In India

Reliance’s newest entity Jio Financial Services (JFS) will have products in the payments and insurance segments in India besides being in the asset management business, Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani said during the 46th annual general meeting (AGM) of the company on Monday (August 28).

“In payments, JFS will consolidate its payment infrastructure with a ubiquitous offering for both consumers and merchants, further driving digital adoption,” said Ambani, adding that JFS products will not only compete with current industry benchmarks but also new-age features such as blockchain-based platforms and the central bank digital currency (CBDC).

Further, as speculated, JFS is set to enter the insurance market in India, offering general insurance, health insurance, and life insurance products. JFS is partnering with global players to deliver insurance products digitally. 

As per recent report, the company is also planning to offer full-fledged insurance services starting 2024. 

Ambani said today that financial services is a highly capital-intensive business and Reliance has capitalised JFS with a net worth of INR 1.20 Cr. In fact, Ambani claimed that JFS has become the world’s highest capitalised financial services platform at inception, which also sets the path for the company to achieve “tremendous” success. 

“I have three reasons to be absolutely confident about JFS achieving tremendous success over the next few years. First, the digital-first architecture of JFS, will give it an unmatched head start to reach millions of Indians. Second, this is a highly capital-intensive business. Your company has provided JFS with a strong capital foundation to build a best-in-class trusted financial services enterprise and achieve rapid growth,” he said.

Besides, the company’s strong board led by KV Kamath would also help the company achieve greater heights, Ambani added.

JFS was demerged from RIL in July and listed at a slight discount earlier this month. With the deep-pocketed player set to enter the market of insurance and payments, competition for the new-age Indian players including Zerodha, Groww, Paytm, PhonePe, and PB Fintech increases considerably.

JFS has also tied up with the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock to take a bet on India’s $540 Bn mutual fund industry dominated by the likes of SBI, ICICI, and HDFC along with startups such as Zerodha, and Groww.

Following the announcements at the AGM, JFS shares ended Monday’s session marginally down at INR 211.65 on the BSE while RIL closed the session down 1.1% at 2442.55 on the exchange.