Reliance Jio has entered into a MoU with State Bank of India (SBI) to expand their digital partnership and provide a platform offering digital banking, commerce, and financial services to customers. It has to be noted that Jio and SBI are joint partners in the Jio Payments Bank, with Reliance holding a 70% stake and the public sector lender owning the remaining 30%. Jio Payments Bank commenced operations in April this year.
The expanded partnership will result in Jio’s ‘MyJio’ application offering SBI’s YONO (You Only Need One) digital banking app, over and above the Jio Payments Bank, the statement said. The partnership will see the telco providing SBI customers with special offers to purchase the Jio Phone, and at the various Reliance Retail outlets. SBI will also have an opportunity to increase its online reach by enabling its customers access to Jio’s online content. Moreover, the statement also said that Jio will also provide the bank with connectivity solutions that will enable video banking and other on-demand services, the release added.
On the other hand, for Jio, its customers get access to a full-service bank and its facilities. Furthermore, the telecom operator will try to leverage on the large customer base of SBI to push its services. SBI has over 42 crore customers, out of which only just 2.5 million are on its online app. On the other hand, all of Jio’s 23 crore customers are on its MyJio app, which will now be integrated with YONO.
Jio’s recent moves
In July, RIL had announced that it will acquire the US-based open telecom solutions provider Radisys Corporation at a valuation of $74 million. Acquiring Radisys is largely seen as an effort to help Jio build in-house development capabilities for fifth-generation (5G) technology and IoT to compete against its rivals in the Indian markets.
That apart, the company, at it’s Annual General Meeting announced a slew of new products and services, including the successor to its super successful JioPhone, dubbed the JioPhone 2. The device, which will be priced at Rs 2999 (introductory price) with a QWERTY keypad, will be releasing on the 15th of August. The company also announced the launch of its fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service, called Jio Giga-Fibre, also scheduled to start from August 15th. Jio will be supplementing its broadband offering with a suite of smart home products, including smart TV apps, a smart speaker, IoT appliances, and automated doors and doorbells.
Besides, the company also announced at the AGM that, starting August 15th, it will roll out a software update that will enable YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp on the 1stgeneration JioPhones.
