Reliance Jio to resume phone bookings post Diwali

Recently, Jio announced its new Dhan Dhana Dhan offer for Diwali, and now it is ready with another big announcement expected post Diwali.

Reliance Jio is said to resume the bookings of the JioPhone post Diwali. According to reports online, it will resume the bookings once it has delievered the 6 million units that were pre-booked in August. 

It was earlier reported that Jio aims to deliver all the units pre-booked in the first round by Diwali, which falls on October 19 this year. A Reliance Retail channel partner told PTI that the second phase of Jio Phone pre-booking will begin post Diwali, likely from October-end or November first week. However, there is no concrete date yet. 

On the official website, the company only says “We will inform you when [Jio Phone] pre-booking resumes.”

About 6 million Jio Phone units were booked in a day and a half when the company opened bookings of the 4G feature phone for the public on August 24 in the first phase. Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani had announced that the 4G phone will be "effectively free" for users, but to prevent isuse of the scheme Jio Phone buyers will need to pay one-time fully refundable deposit of Rs 1,500.

The entire money will be refunded to customer after usage of the phone for 36 months. However, there are several conditions applicable to get the refund. These include spending at least Rs. 1,500 on recharges every year and actively using the handset. If the conditions are not met, it can ask the consumer to return the phone, forfeit the refund, and levy the applicable taxes.

Under the conditions set by Jio for the users, handset buyers can get refund of Rs. 500 if they return the device in the first year, provided they have made recharge of Rs. 1,500 during the year. Similarly, on return of the phone in the second year, the customer will get refund of Rs 1,000 and in the third year entire amount of Rs 1,500 will be refunded.

Reliance Retail started delivery of Jio Phones in small towns from Navratri festival. "The shipments started in metro cities from Saturday. The target is to complete all shipments around Diwali," the channel partner said.