Facebook eyeing to stretch social wings in India

Two most famed names Facebook and Reliance Jio are in talks for a multi-billion-dollar partnership that will let Facebook expand its footprints in India. As per the reports, both the companies were just about to sign a preliminary deal that would have given Facebook a 10% share in Jio.

Still, due to restrictions put in place by the government to contain the coronavirus outbreak, the deal is expected to continue after lockdowns are eased a bit.

With over 370 million subscribers, Reliance Jio is roughly valued at more than 60 billion dollars, and the deal would further allow Facebook to advance its WhatsApp services in the country, such as the much-awaited WhatsApp payment service.

Reliance Jio rolled out commercially back in 2016 but since has expanded into the home broadband space with Jio Fiber along with other retail verticles. Recently, Microsoft also announced plans to venture into a partnership with Jio for its cloud computing business.

For Facebook, the company has not always had the best experience of dealing with the government and telecom operators here, case in point it's Free Basics app that was pulled down from networks. To recap, the Free Basics app aimed to provide free internet access to people with essential services like Wikipedia and social apps.

Facebook is also expected to have its largest user base in India than any other country with more than 400 million Whatsapp users. This deal would help the company expand its services in India, gaining more users, launching payments services, among others. The internet user base in India is also forecasted to grow to 850 million by the end of 2022.