Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has said that shares of its financial services arm Jio Financial Services (JFS) will be listed soon.
Last month, a special session was held on the bourses to determine the share price of JFS after which it was priced at Rs 261.85 per share.
Reliance had announced the demerger of its financial services undertaking into RSIL (Reliance Strategic Investments Ltd), which will be renamed JFS.
Shareholders will get one share of the demerged entity for every RIL share held.
RIL chief Mukesh D Ambani is expected to announce the listing date of JFS at the company’s annual shareholder meet on August 28.
Ambani said Jio Financial Services wants to provide simple, affordable and innovative digital first solutions.
“Jio Financial Services along with its subsidiaries will leverage the technological capabilities of Reliance
and digitally deliver financial services, democratising access to financial services offerings for Indian citizens,” he said.
The demerger is seen as the oil-to-retail conglomerate’s way of expanding in the lucrative financial services sector, especially as it already has a non-bank financial company licence.
The new firm, which has little revenue as of now but owns 6.1 per cent stake in Reliance, last month announced partnership with BlackRock to set up a mutual funds business.
JFS has entered into an agreement with BlackRock to form a 50:50 joint venture, which will see them entering India’s asset management business.
JFS and BlackRock will each invest $150 million.
There are as many as 41 asset management companies with a combined asset under management at over Rs 40 lakh crore. In June, Bajaj Finserv had announced its entry into the business.
It is speculated that JFS could also enter India’s general insurance and life insurance sectors in the coming months.