After conquering the Indian soil with the disruptive strategies, Reliance Jio is finally planning to step out of the country and expand its international operations. Two anonymous people aware of the matter spread the word regarding the same. The country which will become the first host of Reliance’s operations outside of India will be Estonia. Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings, which is a subsidiary of the Reliance Industries will be handing out a loan of Rs 12.20 crore (€1.5 million) to the unit in Estonia to begin operations in the country. This tip was also given by the two persons who did not wish to be named.
The second person out of them stated “Thanks to its sophisticated e-solutions, over the last decade, Estonia has transformed itself into one of Europe’s business success stories. Indian companies would certainly wish to collaborate and imbibe e-governance solutions in this regard and Jio is no exception.”
As per the report by Livemint, the location of Estonia has been chosen strategically by the Mukesh Ambani led company since Estonia is a country where 99% of the operations are handled through and through online. Since the year 2000 Estonia has also provided all government related documentations like licenses etc. totally online. Not only this, this decision has been timed very rightly since Estonia has shown great interest in furthering relations with India. This new step by Reliance Industries Limited might be a big milestone in that diplomatic path. Also, when Livemint questioned regarding Reliance’s investment in Estonia, there was a blank response from the company’s officials.
IANS News Agency was also tracking the development as they brought the information to light that Mukesh Ambani had met with Estonian delegation to discuss new e-governance solution for India on March 13. The IANS report quoted “A statement from the company said Ambani envisaged to make lives better for millions in India by replicating innovative solutions offered by Estonia into the Indian context, adding that, the ‘e-residency programme’ of Estonia will empower him with easy access to the entire European Union (EU) for his existing business while sitting in India.”
E-Residency is a concept whereby anyone in the world can issue a government ID electronically. Estonia is the first country to offer e-Residency. Under e-Residency, individuals will be capable of running a global business in the European Union.
On Estonia’s futuristic vision, Mukesh Ambani said “We believe your solutions are easily scalable to India. We wish to have a very close cooperation with your talent in Estonia.”
Mahesh Uppal, director at communications consulting firm ComFirst India also shared his insights stating “Reliance Jio would want to diversify because like it’s competitors it too is under great pressure in the Indian market. There is every reason to believe that the company may be running operations below cost,” He further added
“In such an environment, it makes sense for any company to diversify in markets where the margins may be better. Besides, the European Union has long worked for a single telecom market. Being in Estonia does give you a foothold to expand further in Europe and helps Jio to mitigate some of the risks in the Indian market.”
However, there's no update from the company yet. Reliance Jio is the fastest growing telecom operator in the country as the telco has already grown its subscriber base to 186 million in India. Expanding its operations to overseas countries will give it an upper hand in the global market.
