Can Jio disrupt the mutual fund business?

While Jio MF will undoubtedly grow in size, it will have to cross multiple hurdles even to emerge as the market leader

Mukesh Ambani’s newly demerged entity Jio Financial Services, about which hardly anything is known, is widely expected to disrupt the $540 billion Indian mutual fund (MF) business. It has formed a 50:50 joint venture with giant US fund house BlackRock to “transform India’s asset management industry” and “democratise access” to options for Indians by delivering “affordable and innovative investment solutions”. Analysts and commentators are excited by how Jio will exploit Reliance Retail’s huge footprint of 18,500 stores and Reliance Jio’s 448.5 million-strong phone subscriber base. Can Jio MF really disrupt the MF business?

The word “disruption” comes to mind because we