Jio Financial to acquire SBI stake in Jio Payments Bank for Rs 104.5 crore

The acquisition is subject to the approval of the RBI and is expected to be completed within 45 days post receipt of RBI approval

The State Bank of India (SBI) has decided to divest its entire 17.8 per cent stake in Jio Payments Bank Limited, a joint venture between the state-owned bank and Jio Financial Services (JFS).

 

JFS will acquire the SBI’s stake for ₹104.5 crore, after which Jio Payments Bank will become its wholly-owned subsidiary, the Reliance Group firm said on Tuesday.

 

Currently, JFS holds 82.17 per cent stake in Jio Payments Bank.

 

“The Board of Directors of the company, at its meeting held today, have approved acquisition of 79 million equity shares of Jio Payments Bank from SBI for an aggregate consideration of ₹104.54 crore”, JFS said in an exchange notification.

 

 

JFS’s share closed 3.02 per cent higher at ₹716.15 on Tuesday.

 

Separately, SBI in an exchange notification stated that their executive committee of the Central Board of Directors has approved the divestment of bank’s entire stake at a price of ₹13.22 per equity share in Jio Payments Bank Limited to Jio Financial Services realizing ₹104.5 crore subject to all regulatory approvals”.

 

At this price, Jio Payments Bank’s equity valuation works out to a little under ₹600 crore (₹586 crore).

 

The acquisition is subject to approval of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and is expected to be completed within 45 days’ post receipt of RBI approval, JFS said.

 

Currently, there are five payments banks in the country, Airtel Payments Bank, Fino Payments Bank, India Post Payments Bank, NSDL Payments Bank, and Jio Payments Bank.

 

Payment banks are entities permitted to hold a maximum customer deposit of up to ₹2 lakh.

 

However, they are not allowed to extend credit to their customers. These banks can operate their own branches, managed by employees, and use business correspondents (BCs) as access points. BCs, however, are not permitted to conduct offline transactions. Unlike commercial banks, payment banks are not required to issue passbooks for customer deposit accounts.

 

Jio Payments bank commenced operations in April 2018. As of December 2024, Jio Payments Bank has 1.89 million CASA customers.