Jio Financial Services on Tuesday said its joint venture with BlackRock is “progressing well” with the recruitment of a leadership team and infrastructure set up as the company awaits regulatory approval for the launch of its asset management business. Jio Financial Services Ltd, the demerged financial services arm of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance, and BlackRock announced an agreement in July 2023 to form a 50:50 joint venture with a USD 150 million investment each to enter the asset management business in India.
On October 19, 2023, Jio Financial and BlackRock Financial Management Inc. filed papers with markets regulator Sebi for launching a mutual fund business.
As of March 2024, the application was under process for Sebi’s in-principle approval.
“The operationalisation of the joint venture with Blackrock, which we had announced in July 2023, is progressing well, with ongoing set up of systems, infrastructure and people recruitment, including the leadership team recruitment,” Jio Fin said in its earnings call.
Last week, Jio Financial announced that the scope of its JV with BlackRock has been expanded now to include the wealth management and broking business.
“The launch of these additional business lines is subject to regulatory and statutory approvals,” Jio Financial Services said.
It further said that NBFC Jio Finance Ltd is well positioned to capture the lending market opportunity by adopting a digital-first business model to cater to consumers and businesses.
The portfolio is being built with due consideration to customer risk profile and business dynamics.
“In the past quarter, the supply chain financing solution for businesses has been launched. Products including loan against mutual funds, home loan and loan against property are in our pipeline,” Jio Financial Services said.
Last week, Jio Financial Services Ltd reported a 6 per cent increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 311 crore in the quarter ended March 2024 on the back of improvement in income. It had a profit of Rs 294 crore in the December quarter.
Revenues improved marginally to Rs 418 crore in the March quarter from Rs 414 crore in the December quarter.
On an annual basis, the company’s consolidated net profit jumped multi-fold to Rs 1,605 crore in FY24 against Rs 31 crore in the preceding fiscal.
Shares of Jio Financial Services settled 1.36 per cent higher at Rs 387.95 apiece on the BSE.
