BlackRock has joined hands with Jio Financial Services (JFS) to transform India’s asset management industry.
The two companies have planned to do this through the launch of a digital-first offering, along with democratising access to investment solutions for investors in India.
The partnership, named ‘Jio BlackRock’, would be a 50:50 joint venture that combines the respective strengths and trusted brands of BlackRock and JFS. It seeks to be “…a truly transformational, customer centric and digital-first enterprise with the vision to democratise access to financial investment solutions and deliver financial well-being to the doorstep of every Indian.”
An initial investment of $150million has been targeted by both JFS and BlackRock each in the joint venture. As per the official announcement, it seeks to deliver tech-enabled access to affordable, innovative investment solutions for millions of investors in the South-Asian country.
The companies also noted that the new joint venture would be subject to regulatory and statutory approvals before its launch. The announcement did not specify any concrete plans for cryptocurrencies too, such as Bitcoin, or any type of digital assets.
This is BlackRock’s second attempt at gaining entry into India’s rapidly growing asset management industry. Back in 2018, the U.S. investment management firm exited India after being in business for about a decade. It then sold a 40% stake in an asset management venture to partner DSP Group.
Chair & Head of APAC, BlackRock, Rachel Lord, now believes India to be an “important opportunity” where the convergence of rising affluence, favourable demographics, and digital transformation across industries is reshaping the market in incredible ways.
President and CEO of JFS, Mr. Hitesh Sethia, also commented on the news saying: “This is an exciting partnership between JFS and BlackRock, one of the largest and most respected asset management companies globally. The partnership will leverage BlackRock’s deep expertise in investment and risk management along with the technology capability and deep market expertise of JFS to drive digital delivery of products.”
JFS is an arm of Indian business tycoon Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, which is the country’s largest listed company by market share. It offers a broad range of financial services solutions through its operating subsidiaries and joint ventures. The billionaire mogul, who boasts a net worth of $90.6billion, has also been named India’s richest man in Forbes list this year.
BlackRock, on the other hand, is an American multinational investment company based in New York City. It has been in the news recently for its spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) application.
The same was officially accepted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for review in mid-July. The company has an Indian platform too which has grown to over 2,400 employees across offices in Mumbai, Gurgaon, and Bangalore in the last 17 years.
The filing of the application of BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin-ETF had also fuelled notable bullish action on cryptocurrency markets. However, most of the cryptocurrencies were seen trading in the red at the time of writing despite the broader crypto market’s rise by over 1% daily.
