Jio has a 'Sign in with Apple' like service but for Reliance employees only

Jio SecureID works through a dedicated app of the same name, which is available on Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store to download

Reliance Jio is working on a new digital authentication and authorisation service, which would allow smartphone users to sign-in on apps and websites through a single pin. Named Jio SecureID, the service is currently available in beta testing to select Reliance group employees. The Jio SecureID is expected to be part of Jio Platforms services, which are available for everyone to use and explore.

The Jio SecureID seems similar to ‘Google Sign-in’ and ‘Sign in with Apple’ services. However, it works through a dedicated app (Jio SecureID), which will be available on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store to download. The app allows users to create four-digit and six-digit pins, which can be used to sign-in on apps and portals. To generate pins, however, you need a valid mobile number and the authentication is done through Aadhaar.

“Your Aadhaar card is the identity document against which we are issuing your Jio SecureID. We will be adding other alternate identity documents you could use eventually,” According to FAQs posted on service landing page on Jio portal.

Unlike other Jio Platforms services, which require Jio mobile number, the Jio SecureID works with any valid 10-digit mobile number from any telecom operator.

“Jio SecureID is being made available for Reliance group employees and can be used to log in to Reliance group apps or portals and approve/authorize transactions or documents. Employees don’t need to remember different user names or passwords, the only thing needed is mobile with Jio SecureID app,” according to a service page on Jio portal.

Facebook to Mubadala: Investors queue up for stake in Jio Platforms

Including investment by the Abu Dhabi fund, Reliance has now sold a combined 19% interest in Jio Platforms in six deals announced over as many weeks.

Reliance Industries on Friday added to its list of international backers, with Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment Co buying a stake in its digital arm, Jio Platforms, for Rs 9,093.6 crore.

Reliance has now sold a combined 19 per cent interest in Jio Platforms, which houses movie, music apps and telecoms venture Jio Infocomm, in six fundraising deals worth a total of Rs 87,656 crore. Here is more about these investments:

1. Facebook invested Rs 43,574 crore in Jio in April for a roughly 10 per cent stake, seeking to build a commerce business for its WhatsApp messaging service. Bloomberg News reported the social media network would work with Jio to take advantage of the company’s JioMart e-commerce platform and its relationship with Indian merchants.

2. Private equity firm Silver Lake will pick up 1.15 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for Rs 5,655.75 crore, Reliance announced on May 4. The deal valued Jio Platforms at Rs 4.90 trillion on equity basis and Rs 5.15 trillion on enterprise value basis.

3. Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners will invest Rs 11,367 crore in Jio Platforms for a 2.3 per cent stake, Reliance announced on May 8. The investment values Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 trillion and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 trillion, Reliance said in a statement.

4. Reliance announced on May 17 US fund General Atlantic will invest Rs 6,598.38 crore in Jio Platforms for a 1.34 per cent stake. The investment valued Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 trillion and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 trillion, said Reliance in a statement.

RIL in talks with West Asian sovereign funds for Jio Platforms: Report

Abu Dhabi and Saudi groups slated to invest about $1 billion into Jio Platforms Ltd, says report.

Three leading Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds are in advanced talks to invest in Reliance Industries Ltd.’s digital arm, Bloomberg News reported quoting unnamed sources.

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co. is slated to invest about $1 billion into Jio Platforms Ltd. and an announcement could come as soon as this week, said the news agency, following similar reports last week. Reliance, backed by India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, is also in discussions with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Saudi Arabia’s The Public Investment Fund.

Jio Platforms, which houses music and movie apps as well a Reliance's telecommunication venture Jio Infocomm, has secured a massive $10 billion from investors including Facebook Inc in May.

Reliance and its subsidiaries have invested over $2 billion in its four-pronged strategy to become a technology powerhouse, Business Standard reported on Monday.

The strategy includes spending over $1.6 billion on buying stakes in 24 tech firms across the US, UK, and India; winning 30 US patents out of the 53 it applied for, mostly in telecom and radio communications; and developing in-house tech in artificial intelligence, machine learning, block chain, virtual reality, big data, and 5G. Also, the ‘Gennext’ programme is providing venture capital support and mentoring to 150-odd companies across fields ranging from finance and retail to e-procurement, logistics, non-invasive testing of fruit quality, and delivering Indian products to global consumers, among others.

Is India's richest man Mukesh Ambani betting on US-China tech war?

US-traded Chinese technology firms such as JD.com and NetEase are looking for an alternative home closer to the mainland in case tensions between Washington and Beijing escalate.

Petrochemicals czar Mukesh Ambani plans to list his fledgling digital business overseas, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of Jio Platforms’s initial public offering, which is planned for the next 12 to 24 months.

Going to the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq would make sense. US-traded Chinese technology firms such as JD.com and NetEase are looking for an alternative home closer to the mainland in case tensions between Washington and Beijing escalate, as my colleague Nisha Gopalan wrote this week. Alibaba held a secondary listing in Hong Kong in November. With Washington considering a range of sanctions against Chinese officials and firms as punishment for Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong, now may be the perfect time to pitch American investors on the potential of the other internet market with a billion-plus people.

A splashy overseas foray will be an unusual step for a family that brought the retail equity culture to India. Dhirubhai Ambani, Mukesh’s late father who founded the empire, booked a football stadium in Mumbai in 1985 to hold a shareholders’ meeting for the polyester textile maker that he had floated eight years earlier. But then, Mukesh Ambani is already moving old furniture around as he pivots flagship Reliance Industries away from an oversupplied energy and chemicals market. At the same time, he’s beefing up the balance sheet after a seven-year, $100 billion debt-fueled expansion. A big chunk of that was for Jio, the wireless carrier that has become India’s largest in less than four years.

A $7 billion rights issue, Reliance’s first in three decades, buttressed by more than $10 billion raised in a month from the sale of shares in unlisted Jio Platforms may help cut the company’s $20 billion of net debt to zero before Ambani’s March 2021 target.

After Facebook, Silver Lake to invest Rs 5,656 cr in Reliance Jio Platforms

The deal comes less than two weeks after Facebook made an investment of $5.7 billion to buy a minority stake in Jio Platforms.

American private equity firm Silver Lake has invested Rs 5,655.75 crore in Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries’ Jio Platforms. The deal comes less than two weeks after Facebook made an investment of $5.7 billion to buy a minority stake in Jio. The investment by Silver Lake values Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.9 trillion and an enterprise value of Rs 5.15 trillion, and represents a 12.5% premium on the equity valuation of the Facebook investment announced on April 22, 2020 – said Reliance Industries in a statement.

“I am delighted to welcome Silver Lake as a valued partner in continuing to grow and transform the Indian digital ecosystem for the benefit of all Indians. Silver Lake has an outstanding record of being a valuable partner for leading technology companies globally. Silver Lake is one of the most respected voices in technology and finance. We are excited to leverage insights from their global technology relationships for the Indian Digital Society’s transformation,” said Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries.

ALSO READ: Jio-Facebook deal likely to boost adoption of crypto-blockchain in India

Silver Lake is a prominent investor in technology space. The company has over $40 billion in combined assets under management and committed capital. Its investments include Airbnb, Alibaba, Ant Financial, Alphabet’s Verily and Waymo units, Dell Technologies, Twitter and numerous other global technology leaders.