Reliance AGM 2021: Clean energy, 5G, cheapest smartphone | 10 key announcements

Reliance Industries Limited chairman Mukesh Ambani made a slew of announcements at the 44th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Thursday. Ambani said performance of the group exceeded  expectations despite the Covid pandemic and also highlighted the  philanthropic efforts of the RIL family. “Throughout the Covid crisis, our Reliance Family has risen to the occasion with a sense of purpose and national duty. I am sure our efforts of the last year would have made our founding chairman, Dhirubhai Ambani, proud,” he said during the annual event which is being held virtually for a second straight year.

Here are the key announcements made during the AGM 2021

1) Aramco-Reliance partnership:

RIL named Yasir Al-Rumayyan, chairman of Saudi Aramco and governor of the kingdom’s wealth fund Public Investment Fund, as a director on its board

“I welcome H.E. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Chairman of Saudi Aramco and Governor of PIF, to join the Board of Reliance Industries as Independent Director. His joining our Board is also the beginning of internationalisation of Reliance: Mukesh Ambani

2) Green energy ventures:

RIL chairman announced the commencement of work on developing the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex on 5,000 acres in Jamnagar
“We have started work on developing the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex on 5,000 acres in Jamnagar. It will be amongst the largest such integrated renewable energy manufacturing facilities in the world.”

Ambani also announced that the company will invest over 60,000 crore in these initiatives over the next 3 years. “Reliance will thus create and offer a fully integrated, end-to-end renewables energy eco-system,” he said.

3) RIL to invest additional Rs 15,000 cr in future technologies:

“We will invest an additional Rs 15,000 cr in value chain, partnerships and future technologies, including upstream and downstream industries. Thus, our overall investment in New Energy business will be Rs 75,000 crore in next three years, says Mukesh Ambani

4) Reliance Jio to partner Google Cloud in 5G:
A new 5G partnership between Google Cloud and Jio will help more than a billion Indians connect to a faster internet, support businesses in digital transformation and lay foundation for next phase of India’s digitisation, Google-parent Alphabet’s CEO Sundar Pichai said at the virtual event.

Also Read: Jamsetji Tata, with over USD 100 billion in donations, is world’s top philanthropist of last century

5) Jio is world’s 2nd largest mobile data carrier:

Reliance Jio had a net addition of 37.9 million subscribers during the year. Reliance Jio is world’s 2nd largest mobile data carrier with over 630 cr GBs a month, a 45% growth in data consumption in the last year alone, said Mukesh Ambani

6) Google and RIL have developed JioPhone Next:

Jio and Google have jointly announced the launch date of JioPhone Next — an android smartphone. The phone would come with cutting edge features like voice recognition, smart camera. To be available in India from September 10. JioPhone Next will be by far, amongst the most affordable smartphone not just in India, but globally, he added.

7) JioFiber fastest-growing broadband operator in India:
JioFiber has become the largest and the fastest-growing fixed broadband operator in India. JioFiber has acquired over 2 million new premises over past year. With a cumulative base of 3 million active home and business users, JioFiber has become the largest and the fastest-growing fixed broadband operator in India, Ambani said.

8) Covid relief efforts:

Reliance Foundation launched five Missions to fight COVID – Mission Oxygen, Mission COVID Infra, Mission Anna Seva, Mission Employee Care, and Mission Vaccine Suraksha. Reliance will pay the salaries of its staff who succumbed to Covid to the family members for five years. The company will also finance the education of the children of the deceased staff in India, Nita Ambani said explaining RIL’s Mission Employee Care.

9) Reliance Retail:
Reliance Retail is on a hyper-growth trajectory to grow at least 3x in the next 3-5 years, said Ambani adding the venture has a pan-India presence with more than 12,000 stores in the country. He added that one of 8 Indians shops from reliance retail. Relaince Retail sold 18 crore units of apparel and footwear last year, equal to entire Germany, UK, and Spain population.

10) RIL’s performance continues to be outstanding:

The consolidated revenue of the group was ₹540,000 crore, consolidated EBITDA was ₹98,000 cr, and almost 50% of EBITDA was contributed by consumer businesses., said the RIL chairman