Reliance Industries supremo Mukesh Ambani on Monday heralded a ‘New Reliance’ that has bent its growth trajectory towards a technological future.
Speaking to shareholders at the company’s 46th annual general meeting the RIL chairman and managing director made a slew of announcements about the group’s business initiatives, which include deepening the presence in the 5G telecom and internet space, developing India-specific artificial intelligence and solutions across domains, and entry into the insurance space through the newly listed, Jio Financial Services.
However, there were no announcements on initial public offerings (IPO) of Reliance Jio Infocomm or Reliance Retail.
ADVERTISEMENT
Read | RIL succession plan: Nita Ambani steps down, Isha, Akash & Anant to join Reliance board
Ambani also underlined the commitment to fast-track execution of its Green Energy Giga Manufacturing Complex at Jamnagar. He also said that the company will deliver a fully-integrated, end-to-end solar PV manufacturing ecosystem.
Ambani said that RIL’s growth in the next 10 years will outstrip the growth it has seen in the past. “I am supremely confident that the value that your company will create for all its stakeholders over the next decade will be multiple times greater than what it has generated over the past 45 years,” he said. Ambani said that the company had invested $150 billion in the last 10 years, biggest by any Indian corporate, and has been the forerunner of emerging new India.
He said said that Reliance has deliberately chosen to be in businesses that have large pent-up demand, which is guaranteed to grow at a healthy rate annually over many decades.
“This choice has led us to build businesses of global size and scale. Each of Reliance’s three growth engines – our O2C business, our retail business and Jio’s digital services business – meets this value-creation criterion. And so also will our newest and fourth growth engine – Jio Financial Services,” he added.
ADVERTISEMENT
He said that the retail arm of the group is seeing interest from marquee global and strategic investors. Ambani added that the valuation of Reliance Retail had nearly doubled in three years.
“Based on this valuation, Reliance Retail, had it been listed, would have ranked among the Top 4 companies in India and Top 10 retailers globally,” the chairman said.
On Jio Financial Services, he said that it will enter the insurance segment to offer life, general, and health insurance products. “Jio Financial Services will…offer simple, yet smart, life, general, and health insurance products through a seamless digital interface, potentially partnering with global players,” he said adding that JFS will use predictive data analytics to co-create contextual products with partners and cater to customer requirements in a truly unique way. —FE