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Reliance Industries may put in a bid for British telecom company, BT Group, according to media reports. 🤞

RIL is also considering partnering with BT’s optic arm Openreach and fund its expansion plans. The acquisition is part of Ambani’s vision of transforming RIL into a global tech and e-commerce giant. The bid, if successful, would be the largest acquisition by an Indian company. 🥇

Fun fact: BT’s network reaches over 40% of the UK population. The group has 30 million B2C users, and over 1 million B2B users. Besides mobile services, BT also provides fibre broadband, IPTV, television, and sports broadcasting. Y’know, it’s a complete package! BT”s revenues touched £21 billion in FY21. 📊

The latest development comes hot on the heels of RIL’s failed attempt to acquire T-Mobile’s Dutch unit. A consortium of investors led by Apax Partners and Warburg Pincus snapped the deal with a 5.1 billion euro bid. 💰

Separately, Jio announced that it will increase prices of prepaid plans by +20% from Dec 1. Analysts estimate Jio’s average revenue per user (ARPU) to increase 6% to Rs 170. The move would also help Jio plug the gap with its peers on key industry metrics, said experts 👍

Tata’s Got Your Back

Tata Group will invest $300 million to build semiconductors in India. The group is in talks with three states and is scouting for land to set-up its manufacturing units. Details regarding the project are scarce atm, but one thing is for sure – Tata is serious about hardware. 

The Tata group had previously expressed its interest in entering the semiconductor business. But, we never heard anything material until now. 

Semiconductors that are used in electronic gadgets and cars have been in short supply mainly because of Covid induced disruption. Several large companies from Apple to Jaguar Land Rover have suffered because of the global chip shortage.

Looking ahead, the investment from the Tata Group could unlock an industry estimated to be worth $1 trillion. Tata’s entry into the lucrative market will allow it to find clients not only in India but also globally. PS. watch out for Tata Motors 👀

Mixed Fortunes

Paytm’s Q2 results were mixed. Increased expenses and higher net loss overshadowed strong user metrics (MTUs, volumes, etc) and revenue growth. Gross merchandise value (GMV) +2x YoY to Rs 2 lakh cr. Average monthly transacting users (MTUs) also saw a healthy 33% jump over the previous year. 📊 Check out its key stats: 

• Revenue: Rs 1,086 cr; +64% YoY
• Net Loss: Rs 474 cr; vs Net Loss: Rs 437 cr YoY

Here’s what Paytm said in its press release: 

We have maintained the growth momentum in our payments services business, expanded our financial services business aggressively and are on our way to pre-COVID volumes for Commerce and Cloud services.

For a change, experts are impressed with the company’s strong execution. But, its astronomical valuations factor in most of the positives. Also, its ability to monetize payments and scale-up of its financial services remain key concerns. The stock remained volatile intraday and was down over 2%.📉

IPO Dreams?

CoinDCX has plans to go public, as soon as the regulations permit it to do so. Yay! 🥳

Neeraj Khandelwal, CoinDCX co-founder said:

As soon as the government or the situation allows us, we will try for an IPO. An IPO gives legitimacy to the industry, just like the Coinbase IPO gave a lot of confidence in the crypto markets. Similarly, we want to instill a similar level of confidence with an IPO of CoinDCX.

The development comes amidst a huge uncertainty around crypto regulation in India. The government plans to introduce a bill to regulate cryptocurrency in the current Parliamentary session. The bill summary mixed with contrasting media reports led to mass panic. It remains to be seen what the government intends to do with cryptocurrency. Fingers crossed! 🤞

CoinDCX became the first crypto company to turn Unicorn when it raised $90 million at a $1.1 billion valuation. Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital led the round. Existing investors Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, Block.one and many others also participated.

CoinDCX provides trading services to retail and enterprise users. It also runs a blockchain academy for education. The company claims to have +3 million users on its platform.