Back in April, Instant messaging platform giant Facebook acquired a 9.99 % stake in Jio platforms by investing Rs 43,574 crore. The investment by Facebook was the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) in the tech sector of India. Since the deal is one of the biggest deals in the sector, CCI was planning to inspect the entire deal to ensure that the merger is fair and monopoly is not created in the sector. Recently, Facebook and Reliance Jio have filed their application with CCI stating that the merger between Facebook and Reliance Jio is pro-competitive and it will benefit customers, Kirana stores and other small and medium scale businesses in India.
Reliance Jio and Facebook Have Extremely Dynamic Market
As reported by ET Telecom, Facebook and Reliance Jio in the CCI application stated that the competition watchdog body does not have to define any relevant markets as the two markets under consideration are consumer communication applications and advertising services. The companies also stated that there would not be any overlap between the dynamic segments which are characterised by low entry barriers, ease of entry and switching and a large number of competitors.
Facebook and Reliance Jio are Competitors
Though the deal has been finalised between Facebook and Reliance Jio, surprisingly the companies have similar businesses which compete with each other. For example, Facebook has a special market place where buyers and sellers can trade, whereas Reliance Jio has teamed up with Ajio.
Reliance JioMart is Live on WhatsApp
Soon after the deal was finalised between Facebook and Reliance Jio, Reliance JioMart was available on Facebook-owned WhatsApp in some parts of Mumbai. However, Reliance JioMart was just available in Thane, Navi Mumbai and Kalyan which is situated in Mumbai. Since WhatsApp lacks approval from the government, it is expected that Reliance JioMart services in WhatsApp will be available in the entire nation after the Facebook-owned platform, WhatsApp gets all the necessary approvals from the government. It is expected that the merger between Facebook and Reliance Jio will help nearly 60 million small businesses in India. Not only this with dynamic services and approach, but the vision of digital India will also be achieved.
