By Mohammed Kudrati
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani made key announcements as part of its 45th annual general meeting (post-IPO), which included a rollout of its much awaited 5G services by Reliance Jio. The 5G services will be launched in key cities by Diwali. The group's retail arm Reliance Retail will also be entering the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) business soon.
Here are some key developments announced at the AGM by the oil-to-telecommunications conglomerate.
1. Reliance Jio
Reliance Jio remains India's largest telecom operator by subscribers at more than 400 million, said Ambani.
In the AGM, Ambani announced the launch of Jio's 5G, that would cover both fixed broadband and wireless telecommunication, towards which the company has committed an investment of ₹2 lakh crores. This announcement comes post the 5G spectrum auction, which concluded earlier this month, at which Reliance Jio emerged as the largest bidder, picking up spectrum worth more than ₹88,000 crores.
Ambani lamented that India lagged behind on fixed broadband, ranking 138th in the world, promising to bring India into the top 10 in the world in fixed broadband.
Further, Jio's 5G would be standalone 5G, which would use no previous-generation 4G infrastructure whatsoever.
The company announced that it expects Jio to launch in key cities (Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore) by Diwali and by the end of 2023 to every town, taluka and tehsil in the country.
Jio also announced a cloud-based PC, that would charge for only the computing power used.
Further, Jio announced a new strategic partnership with Qualcomm, a manufacturer of semiconductors and processors. The company is already an investor in Jio.
2. Reliance Retail
Isha Ambani, the newly appointed chairman of Reliance Retail, announced that the company would be entering the FMCG space, where they would be supporting tribal creations and local artisans.
She also demonstrated how WhatsApp could be used to place orders on JioMart, the company's grocery e-commerce platform, with payments being made through WhatsApp or any other means. This initiative was lauded by Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, who owns WhatsApp.
3. New energy
Last year, Mukesh Ambani announced Reliance's foray into the renewable and green energy space, by announcing the setting up of a green technology giga factory in Jamnagar.
This year, Ambani announced the setting up of four new giga factories at the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex, producing 100 giga-watts of renewable power by 2030.
Further, Reliance, which acquired REC Solar, global company in solar power solution, would be manufacturing its solutions based on its technology in India by 2024.
The company would invest heavily in batteries and would scale to full battery manufacturing by 2024.
4. Oil to chemicals
Reliance's oil to chemicals business remains its backbone, with more than ₹5 lakh crores in revenue and profits (EBITDA) crossing ₹50,000 crores.
The company said that its KG-D6 basin, which supplies nearly 20% of India's gas supplies, would supply 30% of its supply by 2030.
It has also committed ₹75,000 crore towards the business over the next three years. Ambani also announced that the company's scientists have developed organic and biodegradable plastics, to completely replace single use plastic, and that it would set up India's first and world's largest carbon fibre plant at Hazira.
5. Succession plans
In June, the company announced that Akash Ambani, Ambani's eldest son, would be the chairman of Jio, while Isha Ambani would be the chairman of Reliance Retail.
Anant Ambani, his younger son, would be made a leader at Reliance's new energy business.
"Our next-gen leaders are confidently taking over the reins across businesses. Akash and Isha have assumed leadership roles in Jio and Retail respectively. Anant has also joined our New Energy business with great zeal", he said.
Reliance closed at ₹2,597.65, down 0.78% on the National Stock Exchange today.
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