Jio Financial Services Takes 100% Control Of Jio Payments Bank; To acquire SBI’s stake for ₹104.5 Crores

Jio Financial Services (JFS), the over-the-top company from the Reliance Group, has announced its decision to buy the remaining 17.8 per cent stake in Jio Payments Bank from the State Bank of India (SBI) for ₹104.5 crore. This acquisition, announced on Tuesday March 4, 2025, will result in the transfer of Jio Payments Bank to become a wholly-owned subsidiary of JFS.

JFS will acquire about 79 million equity shares of Jio Payments Bank (for ₹13.22 each) from SBI. This values Jio Payments Banks' equity at ~₹586 crore. Acquisition of the entity has been approved by the board of directors of JFS subject to approval of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). JFS expects to close the acquisition in 45 days post receipt of regulatory clearance from RBI.

JFS, which was a JV between SBI launched on August 30, 2016 presently holds 82.17 per cent stake in Jio Payments Bank. As part of its plan to divest SBI's entire stake, JFS, which currently controls the payments company, is now blueprinted well as a conclusion to its strategic interests.

The deal was welcomed by the market, with JFS shares trading up on Tuesday. A report said that JFS shares closed up 2.64 per cent at ₹206.25, while another said they closed 3.02 per cent higher at ₹716.15. The stock moved earlier too, with a report mentioning the counter had fallen to a record low on Monday and slipped below the ₹200 mark, and another noting an intraday high of ₹208 for the stock on Tuesday post acquisitions.

Jio Payments Bank started in April 2018, and by December 2024, it had signed up 1.89 million CASA (Current Account Savings Account) customers. It functions under the payments bank regulator framework in India, which allows it to have a maximum customer deposit of ₹2 lakh but prevents it from extending lending. These banks are also eligible to open branches and use business correspondents (BCs) as access points, however BCs cannot undertake offline transactions. Importantly, unlike commercial banks, payments banks are not mandated to generate passbooks for the customer deposit accounts.

The JFS acquisition comes on the back of steady consolidated profit for the company, which reported a consolidated profit of ₹295 crore for the third quarter ending December 2024, a marginal 0.3 per cent year-on-year growth. In the same period, the company’s assets under management (AUM) saw significant growth, touching ₹4,199 crore.

This is not a related-party deal, JFS has clarified, and no promoters or group entities have a financial interest in the acquisition beyond the terms specified.

As part of this transformation, Jio Financial Services could strengthen its presence in the digital payments sector, with Jio Payments Bank playing a critical role in the wider scheme of Jio's financial offerings to consumers. JFS is currently the lone major player in the digital space in a country which currently houses five active players in the digital space — Airtel Payments Bank, Fino Payments Bank, India Post Payments Bank, NSDL Payments Bank, and now, at JFS's behest, Jio Payments Bank, which could potentially be set to become a wholly-owned subsidiary that would give JFS bigger operational flexibility and strategic control over the payments bank's future course in the increasingly competitive Indian digital landscape.

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