This is a replug of the original article we published in month of November Last Year when PM Modi announced his historic demonetisation decision.
There is a WhatsApp forward that is doing rounds of the Internet. The message alleges that Reliance’s Mukesh Ambani knew (or was informed about the demonetization scheme). So he went ahead and created Reliance Jio, a façade to cover up the murky details of his business and convert all his black money into white. This certainly strengthens Arvind Kejriwal’s catchphrase “Ye Ambani Adani ki Sarkar hai Jee”, though Adani hasn’t been accused yet but who knows when another WhatsApp bomb hits him.
Anyways, talking about the message – Here is what it looks like. Please pardon the language (I didn’t start it)
“I got 1 forward today. Pls let me know how much factful it is: “BIG GAME!! Food for thought?? Did Mukesh Ambani already knew about this currency change? He invested billions in Jio and made it free till Dec 30th? Ironic…And now, the currency exchange will only be allowed till Dec 30th? And from Jan 2017 he will start getting returns in all white money!! A real masterstroke by a visionary businessman or a trick by a fraudster…only time will tell. No wonder the Present RBI governor was a financial advisor to Ambani’s Reliance group & an inside man..!!
Here is my rebuttal strictly based on technical parameters. Yes every untruth needs a rebuttal, this one too.
- Reliance Jio has a loan of $4.9 bn which it raised via long term bonds for investment.
- Total investment in the Jio project is ~$12.5 bn
- The investments started from Financial Year 2012 and now in 2016 end the service is launched, in fact, major financial year ending 31 Mar 2014, then 2015 and then 2016 and current year
- To break even i.e. at least recover money, the entity may take more than 5 years along with on-going capex
- To break even the company needs mini 10 crore subscribers
- RIL has invested more than +USD 25 bn in all its business over past 5 years.
- It is a listed company and second largest tax paying company in India
There were only four people in India who were aware about the demonetization scheme. They were PM Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, RBI Governor Urjit Patel and Revenue Secretary Shashikant Das, and my source of information is the Managing director of a private bank.
So fellows please do not be fooled by such messages which are devoid of facts and just because Urjit Patel was on the board of Reliance, it doesn’t make him an insider. He was also on the board of State Bank of India, among others, did he mail them too?
WhatsApp is not the place for investigative journalism and this Reliance Jio was a façade to convert Ambani’s black money to white through the demonetization scheme was a complete Hoax.
Do not forget to read our exhaustive (The most detailed on the internet) coverage of the demonetization scheme below. It answers every single query of what happened, what will happen and how do you benefit from it?
From Cash Driven to Cashless Economy: The detailed analysis of Modi’s surgical strike on Black Money
