Reliance merges music apps in India

Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries said Friday it was integrating its music app with sector leader Saavn in a $1 billion deal that shows the high hopes for streaming in the billion-plus market.

Reliance, a company with holdings from oil to telecoms run by India's richest person Mukesh Ambani, said it would pump $100 million into the combined platform, one-fifth of it immediately, in hopes to make it "one of the largest streaming services in the world."

Reliance said that it was integrating its own music app, Jio Music, with Saavn and that the combined entity would be worth $1 billion.

Saavn, based in New York, has sought to tap into the appetite for music by tech-savvy Indians by offering a vast catalog of songs across 15 languages.

But like many streaming apps including global leader Spotify, Saavn has struggled to turn rapid growth into profit. It said last year that it had 22 million monthly users, a sliver of the potential in India.