New Delhi: The mega deal between Reliance Jio and Facebook is the news of the day. However, both sides have clarified that the collaboration does not mean that they will not compete in the market.
Head of Strategy, Reliance Jio, Anshuman Thakur said, “At this point, we have identified merchant, SME (small and medium enterprise) commerce as something we can collaborate and we can benefit from what WhatApp already does very well… We will similarly find areas where the skill sets may be more complementary but this investment or partnership does not mean that we will not compete in the market.”
“There will be things where we will be directly competing with each other also in the market, the entities are independent of each other in every respect,” he added.
He is the brother of IG Police (Operations), Odisha, Amitabh Thakur.
To a query on whether Facebook could also look at other partnerships on the retail side with companies, say, Amazon or Flipkart, Vice-president and Managing Director of Facebook India Ajit Mohan said, “The platforms remain open… it is non-exclusive and it is not meant to keep anyone away.”
The US-based social media giant announced an investment of Rs 43,574 crore to buy a 9.99 per cent stake in Jio Platforms on Wednesday.