Reliance Jio takes a bold call on financial services amid tough competition

By separating financial services from its core business through the listing, RIL wants to keep it at arm's length, which would be a necessary regulatory requirement for the financial services business

In 2011, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) had signed a joint venture with US giant D E Shaw to build a financial services business in India. After that move failed, the petrochem-to-telecom behemoth tried its hand at other forays into finance, such as setting up a payments bank with State Bank of India, which met with limited success.

Undeterred by these early stumbles, RIL last week announced the demerger of its small financial services business into Reliance Strategic Investments Ltd (RSIL), which will be renamed Jio Financial Services (JFS). RSIL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of RIL and a registered non-banking finance