Jio, Google, Facebook's NUE bid: What does this mean? | Economic Times

Mumbai: In a bid to capitalise on growing digital payment space in India and a push for a digital ecosystem; Reliance Jio, Google, Facebook and Infibeam Avenues are coming together for Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) New Umbrella Entity (NUE). Experts say that a successful bid for NUE is set to add to the company's plans to make further inroads into the buoyant digital space. Mukesh Ambani led Jio has managed to raise funds from some of the largest global investors for India's growth story. Jio Infosystems, Google and Facebook would pick up stake in So Hum Bharat Digital Payments Private Limited; a wholly owned subsidiary of BSE listed financial technology company Infibeam Avenues.For the NUE, the players intend to create a national payments network to capitalise on India’s fast growing digital payment ecosystem that is dominated by the National Payments Corp of India. So Hum was planning to submit a proposal to RBI on Friday, which was the last day for submitting proposals, but is expected to do so within next one month follwoing RBI's decision to postpone the last for submissions to March 31.“The intention of RBI is to ideally have four but at least two consortiums or entities for NUE. The intention is that no one is able to create a monopoly or create a nationwide panic in case of a technical glitch for one player,” said another person aware of development.As per the RBI’s guidelines all players are required to disclose their plans of partnering or any intention of equity sale when they submit their proposals for NUE. RBI has stringent requirements for NUE, keeping data centres in India being one of them. Jio and Infibeam Avenues have their data centres in India, said sources. “One of the crucial requirements for applying and being taken seriously for NUE is that the company or consortium must display its operational capability along with a substantial size, say Rs 500 crore or above. With Jio, Google and Facebook’s entry in So Hum, that requirement is met,” said a third person who’s advising one of the buyers.An email questionnaire sent to Reliance, Facebook on Wednesday afternoon remains unanswered. Google refused to comment. An Infibeam spokesperson said, "We are bound by confidentiality of the process and cannot comment."This would be the second time the global tech giants and Reliance are coming together for India’s digital play. Facebook has invested Rs 43,574 crore in Jio Platforms for a 9.99% while Google has invested Rs 33,737 crore in the company and picked up 7.73%.ET was first to report on April 16 last year that Reliance and Facebook are looking to create a "super-app" similar to Chinese super-app We-Chat by leveraging the WhatsApp platform and user base. The process is underway, as per several announcements by Jio during last one year“The terms of investment in Jio did include future collaboration,” said a fourth person aware of the development. “Jio has an experience of working with Google, Facebook and even Infibeam.”Infibeam in October last year said in a filing that it has signed a deal to licence its payment software to Jio. Infibeam in the filing to BSE said that its platform allows enterprises to transact online, manage orders, inventory and logistics, process digital payments and manage online marketing. The company claims to process billions of digital transactions on a daily basis and boasts of a cloud based data centre in Gandhinagar based GIFT city.ET had first reported on February 11 that Infibeam is looking to apply for NUE. The company had then said that So Hum was in discussion with Yes Bank for 9.99% equity investment and will jointly work towards the NUE’s product; business strategy with key focus on accelerating innovations, inclusion and digital penetration in India. It is still not clear whether Yes Bank could be part of the NUE project.Yes Bank did not respond to ET’s questions sent on Thursday late night.With NUE the government hopes to build a settlement system similar to unified payments interface. The system would be focussed on small and medium enterprises, merchants and consumers. The RBI in August 2020 issued guidelines for creating a “for profit NUEs.”