RIL AGM 2020: JioMeet proves its mettle after successfully handling 3.2 lakh people simultaneously

In its first massive challenge, JioMeet, the video-conferencing platform rolled out by Reliance Jio weeks back, was put to test during the Reliance Industries 43rd annual general meeting and proved to be impressive. Reliance Industries (RIL) said its first virtual AGM saw a peak concurrency of 3.2 lakh people, with viewers across 42 countries and 468 cities, also making it one of the largest shareholder meetings in the world. JioMeet allows up to 24 hours of free video conferencing, which is encrypted and password-protected, and is a service ever-relevant during the lockdown, as people conduct personal and professional meetings, including workouts and health activities. Addressing shareholders, Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani said JioMeet saw 5 million downloads within hours of its launch. Initially, JioMeet quoted controversy when its user-interface was found out to be identical to Zoom Video Communications, the US-based firm which has seen unprecedented growth during the coronavirus lockdown. Zoom even said it has considered taking legal action against Jio. JioMeet has more recently made minor tweaks to its user interface, changing its appearance a bit compared to Zoom. Video-conferencing has become the next big battle in technology as giants vie for a slice of the pie as the world is under lockdown. Jio’s rival Bharti Airtel on 14 July announced a partnership with US-based Verizon and said it has launched BlueJeans, its own video conferencing service. Some people even said on social media that Jio’s success in hosting such a large-scale virtual event led them to make it their de-facto video call app, instead of Zoom. “JioMeet has 225k people attending the @reliancegroup AGM right now. Does it not make one of the largest webinars organised on a video conferencing platform? If nothing else, @reliancejio made sure that they are using no external tool for their big day. #MadeInIndia #JioMeet,” tweeted Puneet Kumar, a technology investor with hedge fund Steadview Capital. “Dumped @zoom_us and opted for JioMeet from @reliancejio and have to say the user interface and ease of meeting is just brilliant. India is slowly and surely showing the world the way! Well done team @reliancejio: more power to more apps! @narendramodi @rsprasad @PiyushGoyal,” said author Suhel Seth. Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.