Facebook investment paves way for RIL to become debt-free by March 2021

According to estimates by Jefferies, the deal implies a pre-money equity valuation of Rs 4,362 billion ($57 billion) for Jio Platforms Limited (JPL).

Even though Facebook may have picked 9.99 per cent stake in Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Jio (RJio), analysts believe Bharti Airtel remains a ‘direct way’ to play the changing fortunes of the Indian telecom sector. That said, the Facebook-Reliance deal lends confidence in the Indian telecom sector and paves the way for RIL to become a net debt-free company by 2021, they say.

On Wednesday, California-based Facebook and Reliance Industries (RIL)-owned Jio Platforms Limited (JPL) announced that the former would invest Rs 43,547 crore ($5.7 billion) in JPL to expand its presence in India. This will be Facebook's biggest minority shareholding