No financial terms were available. The JV aims to offer an array of financial services to the Indian market, the statement said.

Reliance is free to enter almost any sector after Mukesh Ambani and his long-estranged brother Anil ended a pact last year that had prevented them from competing in each others' industries.

Mukesh Ambani made a dramatic return to telecoms last year with the $1 billion acquisition of Infotel Broadband, the only company to win a nationwide licence for broadband wireless spectrum in an Indian government auction.

Last August, Reliance acquired a stake in hotel chain EIH Ltd, which runs the luxury Oberoi and Trident hotels.