GIC, along with a bunch of investors including Brookfield, purchased a unit of Reliance Industries for $3.4 billion or Rs 25,000 crore, as announced on Tuesday. There was a long wait for its regulatory approval ever since the deal was made last year in December. Reliance was also making digital unit sales to blue-chip companies to boost up sales up to billions of dollars to handle the debt.
The launch of Jio has upended India in recent years, Reliance’s telecom arm, whose cut-price packages have turned it into the country’s biggest telecom carrier by subscribers.
The deal is finalized also marks a foray into the fast-growing telecom market in India. The internet is ever-growing and increasing in the number of users. With India being the second-most-populous country, the infrastructure that would widen its accessibility is a crucial building block.
GIC’s chief investment officer for infrastructure Ang Eng Seng discussed the portfolio providing resilient income and more sustainable value for a longer time, considering the low statistics in India’s data demand and 4G smartphone scenario.
Seng further added that the investment by the respective group is for about 135,000 communication towers utilized by Reliance’s telecoms venture Jio Infocomm. He also stated that this period of uncertainty had to be taken with caution, while even approaching the benefits and more significant opportunities in India.