Google to invest up to US$1 billion in India's Bharti Airtel

BENGALURU: Alphabet Inc's Google will invest up to US$1 billion in Bharti Airtel in a move that could help bolster the Indian telecom operator's digital offerings, the companies said on Friday (Jan 28).

The investment includes a US$700 million equity investment in Airtel at a price of 734 rupees (US$9.77) per share and up to US$300 million towards implementing commercial agreements, including investments in scaling Airtel's offerings, the companies said.

The share issue is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval and comes months after Airtel raised up to 210 billion rupees through a sale of shares to existing shareholders.

Airtel shares were up 0.54 per cent at 711 rupees after the announcement.

Google announced plans less than two years ago to infuse US$10 billion in India via its digitisation fund over five to seven years through equity deals and tie-ups.

Conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd's digital unit Jio Platforms, which houses Airtel's telecom rival Jio, received an investment of US$4.5 billion from Google in July 2020. In return, the US tech behemoth got a seat on Jio's board.