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Reliance Industries (RIL) conducted its 45th annual general meeting (AGM) on Monday led by Mukesh Ambani, the billionaire chairman and managing director of the oil-telco-retail conglomerate.

“There is uncertainty due to heightened geopolitical tensions, and global risks. Amidst the global crisis, India stands as a beacon of growth and stability. The aim is for RIL to more than double its value by the end of the golden decade in 2027,” Ambani said in his speech at the virtual event.

The investments and outlook for Reliance's foray into new energy, its 5G rollout and expansion of oil-to-chemical (O2C) capacities were the key highlights of Ambani's speech.

According to market expert Prakash Diwan the range of expansion and growth trajectory that Ambani has outlined is stupendous.

"I haven't come across a company so boldly setting forth right target to double itself in terms of value in just 5 years," he told CNBC-TV18.

Diwan thinks the roadmap from is so impressive that if there is any company that can become truly global in terms of applications beyond what has been seen in the IT services, as a brand, as a technology provider, as an enabler to the parts of the rest of the world, it's going to be Reliance.

Check out top announcements by Mukesh Ambani at Reliance AGM 2022

– $100 billion revenue:

Reliance became India's first corporate to cross $100 billion in annual revenues. Its consolidated revenues grew 47 percent to Rs 7.93 lakh crore and the annual consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) crossed a crucial milestone of Rs 1.25 lakh crore, Ambani said in his speech at the 45th AGM.

– Jio 5G: Ambani said, Jio 5G will be the world's largest and most advanced 5G network. Jio will deploy the latest version of 5G, called standalone 5G, which has zero dependencies on the 4G network.

With standalone 5G, Jio can deliver new and powerful services such as low latency connectivity, massive machine-to-machine communication, 5G voice, edge computing and network slicing, and metaverse.

The three-fold advantage of standalone 5G architecture, largest and best mix of spectrum, and carrier aggregation means that Jio 5G will be able to offer an unparalleled combination of coverage, capacity, quality, and affordability, Ambani said.

Reliance Jio Infocomm — the company's telecommuncations arm — plans to invest Rs 2 lakh crore in this regard and said it will launch 5G across multiple key cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata by October (this Diwali). and will pan-India coverage by December 2023.

Also read: RIL AGM's big annoucements in the past: From JioPhone Next to Jio Glass and more

– 2.32 lakh jobs: RIL added 2.32 lakh jobs across businesses, with Reliance Retail becoming one of the largest employers in the country.

– Reliance Retail: “We served over 200 million registered customers, equivalent to the collective population of the UK, France and Italy, at Reliance Retail's physical stores and digital platforms. We welcomed 520 million walk-ins to our stores, a growth of 18% YoY, and 4.5 billion visits to our digital platforms, up 2.3x YoY,” Isha Ambani

Digital commerce platforms continued growth with nearly six lakh orders being delivered every day, an increase of 2.5 times over last year. “We opened over 2,500 stores in the year to take our store count to over 15,000, spanning an operational area of 42 million sq-ft,” she said.

“We launched Freshpik, a gourmet format, and rolled out 7-Eleven for on-the-go customers,” she added.

Also, Reliance Retail is all set to venture out into the fast-moving consumer goods business after making tremendous growth in the retail business.

– Oil to Chemicals: Over the next 5 years, Reliance will invest Rs 75,000 crore and expand capacities in existing and new value chains, Ambani said, adding that the conglomerate has commenced its journey to become net carbon zero by 2035 with a set of concrete actions.

"Within a span of just one year, we have replaced almost 5 percent of energy consumption at our Dahej and Hazira sites with green power and green steam. Within one year, the renewable energy consumption at Reliance jumped by 352 percent. I feel confident that such initiatives, coupled with the transition to renewable power for our O2C assets, will accelerate our journey to become net-carbon zero," he said.

– New energy: Ambani said he had announced last year the setting up of Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex in Jamnagar. The firm aims to establish and enable at least 100GW of solar energy by 2030. RIL chairman added that the work done so far has reaffirmed his conviction in solar energy and has provided further impetus to the investment thesis to establish four Giga factories for — photovoltaic panels, energy storage, green hydrogen and fuel cell system.

– Succession planning: Mukesh Ambani noted that Akash and Isha have assumed leadership roles in Jio and Retail respectively. They have been involved in Reliance's consumer businesses since inception. Anant has also joined the new energy business and is spending most of his time in Jamnagar, he said.

"All three have fully inherited our Founder's Mindset. They are First Among Equals in a young team of leaders and professionals who are already doing amazing things at Reliance. Of course, all of them are being mentored on a daily basis by our senior leaders, including myself and the Board of Directors," he said in his speech.

Catch Reliance Industries AGM LIVE updates here

First Published:Aug 29, 2022 2:42 PM IST