
Google Invests $4.5B in India’s Reliance Jio Platforms - jmsflknr
https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/15/google-invests-4-5-billion-in-indias-reliance-jio-platforms/
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spians
So out of $10 billion that they announced to invest in India in next five to
seven years, 45% of it is in Jio? Jio is already on the way to monopolize the
telecom sector and with all the investments Jio Platforms has got in past four
months, this doesn't look good for Indian tech sector.

~~~
abhiminator
I agree. If this trend of pouring of billions of $$$s of Big Tech money into
the Jio platform continues, it won't be long until Jio becomes _the_ monopoly
in the country, especially given the founder's proximity to the current
administration. [0]

And imo, even though this is bad for overall competition and culture of
innovation in the country, this is a smart move by both Facebook and Google,
especially given the recent backlash against Chinese tech and software, which
have come to dominate India's tech scene; Indian government quite recently
banned almost all the popular China-origin apps [1] and there is a growing
anti-China sentiment in the country. I feel there has never been a better
opportunity for Jio to step up its game and fill in the void left by the
government-mandated bans, and from that perspective, these investments from
the Big Tech firms make sense.

[0]
[https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/contracts-...](https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/contracts-
to-jio-sheer-favouritism-bsnl-employees-group/76671853)

[1] [https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/29/india-bans-tiktok-
dozens-o...](https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/29/india-bans-tiktok-dozens-of-
other-chinese-apps/)

~~~
spians
Yes this is the way for these companies to enter into India's emerging market,
but it's getting worse for the end consumer. A lot of "Tech Gurus" in India
are suggesting Jio apps as a replacement for the banned Chinese ones (to ride
the wave of nationalism). But the problem is, Jio Apps have some of the worst
privacy policies I have come across (even worse than their Chinese counter
parts in some cases). Users in India are not aware of this fact. It will be
too late and everyone will be locked into Jio platform ecosystem before the
masses realize it (think of something like Cambridge Analytica scandal at
India's scale with one of the Jio Apps as a platform).

