Alphabet
’s
GOOGL
division Google continues to boost investment in India.
Reportedly, Google and Snap plan to invest in an India-based social network, ShareChat.
ShareChat is a regional-language social media platform that owns the short-video app Moj. The company is reportedly looking to raise capital from the market.
Last November, Google was reportedly in talks with ShareChat for a potential acquisition. However, the deal did not come to any conclusion.
The latest deal is in line with the company’s aim of expanding presence in India and giving a push to the country’s digital transformation.
Google’s Growing Efforts
Google is deepening focus on India, and continues to strengthen reach in the country as well as aid global presence. The latest deal is a testament to the same.
Late last year, Google invested in ShareChat’s competitors, nMobi Group and VerSe Innovation, which owns short-video app Josh and Dailyhunt. Reportedly, DailyHunt claims to serve more than 300 million users with news and entertainment content in 14 Indian languages.
In July, Google announced plans to invest $10 billion in India over the next five-seven years.
It aims to focus on areas that are related to India’s digitization. Such measures include enabling access to information via Internet in local languages and building new products and services in varied areas like consumer technology, education, health, as well as agriculture.
In addition, it aims to help small and medium businesses to adopt digital tools for adapting to the current situation.
Moreover, the company invested $4 billion in Jio Platforms Limited, the digital arm of a massive India-based conglomerate, Reliance Industries. The investment was made to further expand in the telecom space in India.
We believe these endeavors bode well for Google’s persistent efforts toward expanding presence in India due to ongoing digitization in the country.
Intensifying Competition
Competition is intensifying in India as growth opportunities in the country are alluring enough to attract foreign direct investments. Google’s latest move is a testament to this fact.
Major big companies, namely
Amazon
AMZN
,
Facebook
FB
and
Microsoft
MSFT
, among others, are also leaving no stone unturned to capitalize on the prospects in the digital space of India.
We note that Amazon announced that it will create 1 million jobs in the country. The company strives to create these jobs in both direct and indirect forms. The e-commerce giant aims to reach the target of 1 million jobs by 2025.
These jobs will require Amazon’s investment in logistics, technology, skill development and infrastructure. Moreover, the company is likely to create jobs involved in content creation, retail and manufacturing.
Meanwhile, Facebook invested $5.7 billion to buy a 10% stake in Jio Platforms Limited, the digital arm of Reliance Industries.
Also, Microsoft inked a 10-year partnership with Reliance Jio — the largest telecommunication company of India — mid last year. The deal enabled Reliance to offer Azure services, Microsoft 365 and Microsoft AI platforms to business customers.
Google’s growing endeavors remain noteworthy. We believe the company’s strengthening momentum across varied verticals like health, education and agriculture, among others, is likely to aid its presence in the country.
Zacks Rank
Alphabet currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here
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