Jio Leasing Services Ltd (JLSL), a branch of Jio Financial Services, intends to acquire customer premises equipment, devices, and telecom equipment worth $4.32 billion from Reliance Retail over the upcoming two fiscal years, according to a postal ballot notice (PDF) dispatched to shareholders for deal approval.
JLSL is venturing into a Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) business model — it will lease telecom devices along with related services to Reliance Jio Infocomm customers. Reliance Retail, evaluated at around $100 billion by Reliance Industries in 2023, will sell the devices to JLSL at cost plus margin.
The transaction will be one of the largest equipment deals in the Indian telecom industry. By adopting a leasing model through JLSL, Jio aims to make access to the latest 5G devices more affordable for customers and attract more subscribers to its network.
The transaction will be distributed over the financial years concluding in March 2025 and March 2026.
Jio Financial Services was a relatively unknown, non-bank financial arm of Reliance Industries until the conglomerate separated the unit and listed it last year. Reliance still owns more than 80% of the company.
Jio Financial Services also plans to provide its payment aggregator and gateway services to Jio Platforms and Reliance Retail, as stated in the notice.
The deal highlights Jio Financial Services’ expanding interest in ventures beyond lending. Through the DaaS model, the company plans to lease devices like laptops and its mobile hotspot AirFiber to businesses.
