A report published by the UK-based business daily, Financial Times, explained Google India's plan to buy a 5 per cent stake in Vodafone Idea as a part of its India push.
Coming close to the deal made by social media giant Facebook, who invested a whopping US $ 5.7 billion in Reliance Industries promoted Jio Platforms. The bid was brought about to leverage the growth in India's booming internet market.
However, if and when the move takes place, it will see the world's largest internet company pit against its direct competition, the US-based social media behemoth for the world's fastest-growing internet market.
Led by Sundar Pichai, the Google group is looking for a 5 per cent stake in Vodafone India, which is a subsidiary of UK-based Vodafone Plc and India's Aditya Birla group.
The deal, however, remains in an early stage of negotiations is expected to give a much-needed boost to Vodafone Idea. The latter was formed in 2018, as a result of a merger between Vodafone India and Birla's Idea Cellular.
While the company's top management had earlier indicated that the firm might shut its shops after being slapped with billions of dollars worth fines by the telecom regulator. - TRAI.
