RIL launches WhatsApp chatbot to answer rights issue queries

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), a company controlled by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, has launched a chatbot to provide answers to shareholders on its ₹53,125-crore rights issue.

The chatbot, the first one rolled out for a public offering, is available on WhatsApp and is developed by Jio Haptik Technologies, said a source close to the development.

RIL has more than 2.6 million shareholders, and the chatbot is getting a lot of queries every day, the source said, but declined to provide specific details. WhatsApp, a company owned by Facebook, has more than 400 million users in India.

The chatbot would help RIL shareholders get answers to a list of queries — important dates related to its rights issue, rights entitlement a shareholder is eligible for, how to trade their rights entitlement, and what to do if one has physical shares and sample forms, among others.

Further, the chatbot — which can be accessed by sending a message to +91 79771 11111 — offers links to video tutorials also.

When contacted, an RIL spokesperson declined to comment.

RIL’s ₹53,125-crore rights issue, which is the country’s biggest, opened for subscription on May 20, and will close on June 3.

READ THE STORY: RIL’s rights issue to open on May 20

In April 2019, RIL subsidiary Reliance Jio Infocomm had acquired chatbot-maker Haptik Infotech for ₹230 crore and said it would invest another ₹700 crore, over a period, for expansion.

READ THE STORY: RJio acquires chatbot-maker Haptik Infotech for ₹230 crore

On April 22, 2020, internet entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg-founded Facebook had agreed to invest ₹43,574 crore in RIL’s wholly-owned subsidiary Jio Platforms in lieu of a 9.99 per cent equity stake in Jio Platforms.

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