BlackRock Looks to India in Jio Partnership for Digital Asset Services: FT

On July 26, India’s Jio Financial Services (JFS) and American asset management giant BlackRock announced a joint venture to launch digital asset management services in the world’s second most populated nation.

Jio Financial Services comes under the umbrella of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Group.

The pair target an initial investment of $150 million each, according to the Jio press release.

Jio Financial Services is not yet listed but here comes the first announcement already –

Jio Financial and Blackrock to form JV to enter the Indian Asset Management Industry

BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, with US$8.59 trillion in AUM (Dec 2022)

No reco pic.twitter.com/dke4eWVDol

— Aditya Kondawar (@aditya_kondawar) July 26, 2023

BlackRock Into India

According to a July 26 Financial Times report, BlackRock aims to launch a “digital-first asset manager” aimed at serving India’s growing investor population.

Jio CEO, Hitesh Sethia, explained how the collaboration would work:

“The partnership will leverage BlackRock’s deep expertise in investment and risk management along with the technology capability and deep market expertise of JFS to drive digital delivery of products.”

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani is seeking to make JFS one of the nation’s top non-banking finance companies by leveraging his telecom and retail businesses, according to the report.

BlackRock’s head of APAC, Rachel Lord, said “India represents an enormously important opportunity,” adding:

“The convergence of rising affluence, favorable demographics, and digital transformation across industries is reshaping the market in incredible ways.”

While crypto assets were not specifically mentioned in the partnership announcement, it is possible that they may come under digital asset services offered.

The Indian government and central bank are still very wary of crypto and have yet to roll out a regulatory framework.

However, the Indian finance minister and central bank governor raised the issue of crypto regulation at a G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting earlier this month. They urged the G20 to address crypto risks, safeguard innovation, and protect investors, according to reports.

BlackRock has been aggressively expanding into Asia following its U.S. Bitcoin ETF application. Earlier this week, it added two executives to its China and Singapore wealth teams.

Crypto Market Outlook

Crypto market consolidation has continued for yet another day, and markets remain flat. Total capitalization is up marginally at $1.23 trillion, but volumes and liquidity are dry.

Bitcoin failed to reclaim $30K despite a spike during the Thursday morning Asian trading session. As a result, the asset remains at $29,400.

Ethereum is up marginally, but it has also failed to reclaim $1,900, and most of the altcoins remain unmoved from yesterday’s levels.