Last checked at 
By Promit Mukherjee and Alexandra Ulmer
MUMBAI, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Reliance Industriesunveiled plans to launch high-speed internet services in India,a tie-up with Microsoft and a stake sale in its oil business toSaudi Aramco, underscoring billionaire Chairman Mukesh Ambani'sambitions for the group.
The big tech push comes as the group bolsters itsconsumer-focused retail and telecoms units to match the strengthof its key oil-and-gas business. Its startup Jio has upended thetelco sector by providing cheap data connectivity and becomingIndia's top mobile operator by subscribers in just three years.
The conglomerate is planning to sell a fifth of itsoil-to-chemicals business to Saudi Aramco in what would be oneof the largest foreign investments in the country, Ambani,Asia's richest man, said at an annual general meeting (AGM) ofReliance shareholders on Monday.
The deal, which values Reliance's oil-to-chemicals businessat $75 billion including debt, also includes an agreement forAramco to sell 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) to Reliance'sJamnagar refinery in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
Reliance currently buys around 220,000 bpd of oil fromAramco. The state-run Saudi company, the world's biggest oilproducer, declined to comment on the Reliance report.
The stake sale comes as Reliance pushes to become a zero netdebt company, which Ambani said will happen by March 2021.
The company has been forging partnerships to that end andsaid earlier this month it would deepen its ties with global oilmajor BP by forming a fuel retailing joint venture.
Reliance had outstanding debt of nearly $42 billion as ofJune 30, and cash and cash equivalents of roughly $18.5 billion.
Ambani was joined on Monday by Microsoft Chief Satya Nadellavia video conferencing for the AGM being held on a public andstock exchange holiday in India and many countries.
Microsoft and Jio will partner to launch new clouddata centres in India, the two executives said, a move probablyaimed at taking on Amazon's growing cloud business.
Jio will provide free cloud services for startups for aslittle as 1,500 rupees ($21) a month, which Ambani said was lessthan one-tenth of global rates.
"By working together to develop innovative and affordablecloud-enabled digital solutions ... we will accelerate thedigitisation of the Indian economy and make Indian businessesglobally competitive," Ambani said in a statement.
Jio, which has crossed the 340 million subscriber mark, saidit will launch Jio GigaFiber broadband services next month.
The service will include access to television channels,fixed-line telephone calling and video conferencing and will bepriced between 700 rupees to 10,000 rupees per month.($1 = 71.3257 Indian rupees)(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee, Alexandra Ulmer and Euan Rocha;Writing by Sayantani Ghosh; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
