After mutual funds, Jio Financial Services to foray into insurance business

MUMBAI: After announcing an entry into the asset management business with BlackRock, Jio Financial Services (JFS) is gearing up to foray into the insurance segment.


JFS will partner with a global player to offer life, general and health insurance products, said RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani at the AGM. It will use “predictive data analytics to cocreate contextual products” with its partners, he added.
Financial services is Ambani’s latest consumer-focusing business bet as RIL opts for geographical concentration and sectoral diversification. Explaining the rationale for foraying into financial services, Ambani said that JFS was conceptualised to “fill a critical gap in the financial services needs of a large section of the Indian economy”. For tens of thousands of small businesses and selfemployed entrepreneurs, ease of doing business must mean ease in borrowing, investments, and payment solutions. JFS plans to “democratise financial services”.

It will increase financial services penetration by transforming and modernising them with a digital-first approach that simplifies financial products, reduces cost of service, and expands reach through easily accessible digital channels. Emphasizing that financial services is a highly capital-intensive business, Ambani said RIL has capitalised JFS with a net worth of Rs 1.2 lakh crore to create one of the world’s highest capitalised financial service platforms at inception. RIL had separated the financial services business from itself and subsequently listed it. It offered one share of JFS for every RIL share. “This is equivalent to a mini bonus for our long-term investor,” Ambani said.
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