Reliance partners with tech gaints

NEW DELHI: India’s conglomerate Reliance Industries has partnered with Facebook Inc, Google and fintech player Infibeam to set up a national digital payment network, Reuters reported on Saturday.

Last year, India’s central bank invited companies to forge new umbrella entities (NUEs) to create a payments network that would rival the system operated by the National Payments Council of India (NPCI), as it seeks to reduce concentration risks in the space.

Citing three unnamed sources, India’s leading business daily Economic Times said that the group led by Reliance and Infibeam was in the advanced stages of submitting their proposal to the Reserve Bank of India.

Digital payments in India could rise to $135.2 billion in 2023, according to an Assocham-PWC India study in 2019.

Facebook and Google are already partnered with Reliance and own stakes in Jio Platforms - the unit which houses Reliance’s music, movie apps and telecoms venture. The RBI this week extended the deadline for all parties to submit NUE applications until March 31 from February 26.