Alphabet Inc’s, Google’s parent company, has announced that it is investing up to $1 billion in Bharti Airtel in a move that could help bolster the telecom operator’s digital offerings. The investment includes a $700 million equity investment in Airtel at a price of $9.77 per share and up to $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 Rs 21,000 crore through a sale of shares to existing shareholders. Airtel shares were up 0.54% at Rs 711 after the announcement.
Google announced plans less than two years ago to infuse $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 $4.5 billion from Google in July 2020. In return, the US tech behemoth got a seat on Jio’s board.