Two takeaways from Reliance’s day: On Amazon and 5G

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Editor's note: If I still worked at a newspaper, I would be devoting at least a couple of broadsheet pages to the announcements made during Reliance Industries Ltd’s annual general meeting. Flush with fresh funds, India’s most valuable company—run by Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani—laid down a roadmap to dominate the country’s digital economy. We’ll focus on two things. The e-commerce challenge Over the past three months, Jio Platforms has raised about $20 billion in equity investments over a dozen global investors. Jio Platforms is a subsidiary that houses all of Reliance’s digital services and Reliance Jio Infocomm, India’s biggest and youngest telecom operator. The line-up of investors includes sovereign wealth funds and pedigreed private equity firms such as KKR & Co., L Catterton, Silver Lake and General Atlantic—as well as a troika of modern US tech giants, i.e. Facebook, Microsoft and Google. In return for their funding, they get to piggyback on Jio’s telecom reach and the sheer heft of Reliance Industries and the Ambanis. Facebook-owned WhatsApp partners with Reliance’s JioMart grocery service for starters. Microsoft works with Jio to offer …