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Reliance Industries Limited is an
Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Its businesses
include energy, petrochemicals, natural
gas, retail, entertainment, telecommunications, mass media, and textiles.
Reliance is the largest public company in India by market capitalisation[4] and
revenue,[5] and the 100th largest company worldwide.[6] It is India's largest
private tax payer[7] and largest exporter, accounting for 7% of India's total
merchandise exports.[8] The company has relatively little free cash flow and
high corporate debt.[9][10]
The company has attracted controversy for reports of political corruption,
cronyism, fraud, financial manipulation, and exploitation of its customers,
Indian citizens, and natural resources.[11][12][13][14][15] Its chairman, Mukesh
Ambani, has been described as a plutocrat.[16]
History[edit]
1958–1980[edit]
Stamp released in 2002 to honor company
founder Dhirubhai Ambani
Reliance Commercial Corporation was set up in 1958 by Dushyant
Corporation (DC Group of Company) as a small venture firm trading
commodities, especially spices and polyester yarn.[1] In 1965, the partnership
ended and Dhirubhai continued the polyester business of the firm.[17] In 1966,
Reliance Textiles Industries Pvt. Ltd. was incorporated in Maharashtra. It
established a synthetic fabrics mill in the same year at Naroda in Gujarat.
[18] On 8 May 1973, it became Reliance Textiles Industries Limited. In 1975,
the company expanded its business into textiles, with "Vimal" becoming its
major brand in later years. The company held its initial public offering (IPO) in
1977.[19] The issue was over-subscribed by seven times.[20] In 1979, a textiles
company Sidhpur Mills was amalgamated with the company.[21] In 1980, the
company expanded its polyester yarn business by setting up a Polyester
Filament Yarn Plant in Patalganga, Raigad, Maharashtra with financial and
technical collaboration with E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., U.S.[18]
1981–2000[edit]
In 1985, the name of the company was changed from Reliance Textiles
Industries Ltd. to Reliance Industries Ltd.[18] During 1985 to 1992, the
company expanded its installed capacity for producing polyester yarn by over
145,000 tonnes per annum.[18]
The Hazira petrochemical plant was commissioned in 1991–92.[22]
In 1993, Reliance turned to the overseas capital markets for funds through
a global depository issue of Reliance Petroleum. In 1996, it became the first
private sector company in India to be rated by international credit rating
agencies. S&P rated Reliance "BB+, stable outlook, constrained by the
sovereign ceiling". Moody's rated "Baa3, Investment grade, constrained by the
sovereign ceiling".[23]
In 1995/96, the company entered the telecom industry through a joint venture
with NYNEX, USA, and promoted Reliance Telecom Private Limited in India.
[22]
In 1998, Reliance took over Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited during
privatization of public sector enterprises.
In 1998/99, RIL introduced packaged LPG in 15 kg cylinders under the brand
name Reliance Gas.[22]
The years 1998–2000 saw the construction of the integrated petrochemical
complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat,[22] the largest refinery in the world.
2001 onwards[edit]
In 2001, Reliance Industries Ltd. and Reliance Petroleum Ltd. became India's
two largest companies in terms of all major financial parameters.[24] In 2001–
02, Reliance Petroleum was merged with Reliance Industries.[19]
In 2002, Reliance announced India's biggest gas discovery (at the Krishna
Godavari basin) in nearly three decades and one of the largest gas
discoveries in the world during 2002. The in-place volume of natural gas was
more than 7 trillion cubic feet, equivalent to about 120 crore (1.2 billion)
barrels of crude oil. This was the first-ever discovery by an Indian private
sector company.[19][non-primary source needed][25]
In 2002–03, RIL purchased a majority stake in Indian Petrochemicals
Corporation Ltd. (IPCL), India's second largest petrochemicals company, from
the government of India,[26] RIL took over IPCL's Vadodara Plants and
renamed it as Vadodara Manufacturing Division (VMD).[27][28] IPCL's
Nagothane and Dahej manufacturing complexes came under RIL when IPCL
was merged with RIL in 2008.[29][30]
In 2005 and 2006, the company reorganised its business by demerging its
investments in power generation and distribution, financial services and
telecommunication services into four separate entities.[31][non-primary source
needed]
In 2006, Reliance entered the organised retail market in India[32] with the
launch of its retail store format under the brand name of 'Reliance Fresh'.[33]
[34] By the end of 2008, Reliance Retail had close to 600 stores across 57
cities in India.[19][non-primary source needed]
In November 2009, Reliance Industries issued 1:1 bonus shares to its
shareholders.[citation needed]
In 2010, Reliance entered the broadband services market with acquisition of
Infotel Broadband Services Limited, which was the only successful bidder for
pan-India fourth-generation (4G) spectrum auction held by the government of
India.[35][36] In the same year, Reliance and BP announced a partnership in
the oil and gas business. BP took a 30 per cent stake in 23 oil and gas
production sharing contracts that Reliance operates in India, including the KG-
D6 block for $7.2 billion.[37] Reliance also formed a 50:50 joint venture with
BP for sourcing and marketing of gas in India.[38]
In the same year, Reliance and BP announced a partnership in the oil and
gas business. BP took a 30 per cent stake in 23 oil and gas production
sharing contracts that Reliance operates in India, including the KG-D6 block
for $7.2 billion.[37] Reliance also formed a 50:50 joint venture with BP for
sourcing and marketing of gas in India.[38]
In 2017, RIL set up a joint venture with Russian Company Sibur for setting up
a Butyl rubber plant in Jamnagar, Gujarat, to be operational by 2018.[39]
In August 2019, Reliance added Fynd[40] primarily for its consumer
businesses and mobile phone services in the e-commerce space.[41][42]
In December 2022, Reliance Industries Market cap stood at Rs.17,59,017.23
crore.[43]
In February 2024, Reliance Industries Ltd. and The BharatGPT group
announced that it will launch large language model (LLM), Hanuman's AI
system in March 2024. The model will work in 11 local languages in four
major areas: health, governance, financial services and education.[44]
In March 2024, Reliance Industries partnered with Disney to introduce
Reliance-Disney OTT platform.[45][46]
Shareholding[edit]
The number of shares of RIL are approx. 644.51 crore (6.44 billion).[47] The
promoter group, the Ambani family, holds 50.39% of the total shares whereas
the remaining 49.61% shares are held by public shareholders, including FII
and corporate bodies.[47] Life Insurance Corporation of India, public section
company, is the largest non-promoter investor in the company, with 6.49%
shareholding.[48]
In January 2012, the company announced a buyback program to buy a
maximum of 12 crore (120 million) shares for ₹10,400 crore (US$1.5 billion).
By the end of January 2013, the company had bought back 4.62 crore (46.2
million) shares for ₹3,366 crore (US$400 million).[49]
Listing[edit]
The company's equity shares are listed on the National Stock Exchange of
India Limited (NSE) and the BSE Limited. The Global Depository
Receipts (GDRs) issued by the company are listed on London Stock
Exchange.[50][51] It has issued approx. 5.6 crore (56 million) GDRs wherein
each GDR is equivalent to two equity shares of the company. Approximately
3.46% of its total shares are listed on Luxembourg Stock Exchange.[47][non-
primary source needed]
Its debt securities are listed at the Wholesale Debt Market (WDM) Segment of
the National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE).[52][non-primary source
needed]
It has received domestic credit ratings of AAA from CRISIL (S&P subsidiary)
and Fitch. Moody's and S&P have provided investment grade ratings for
international debt of the company, as Baa2 positive outlook (local currency
issuer rating) and BBB+ outlook respectively.[53][non-primary source needed][54]
[55] On 28 December 2017, RIL announced that it will be acquiring the
wireless assets of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications for about
₹23,000 crores.[56]
Operations[edit]
The company's petrochemical, refining, and oil and gas-related operations
form the core of its business; other divisions of the company include cloth,
retail, telecommunications, and special economic zone (SEZ) development. In
2012–13, it earned 76% of its revenue from refining, 19% from
petrochemicals, 2% from oil & gas and 3% from other segments.[57][non-primary
source needed]
In July 2012, RIL informed that it was going to invest US$1 billion over the
next few years in its new aerospace division which will design, develop and
manufacture equipment and components,
including aircraft, engine, radars, avionics and accessories for military and
civilian aircraft, helicopters, unmanned airborne vehicles, and aerostats.[58]
As of March 2023, the company had 254 subsidiary companies and 15
associate companies.[59][non-primary source needed]
Subsidiaries[edit]
Jio Platforms[edit]
Main article: Jio Platforms
Jio Platforms Limited, essentially a technology company, is a majority-owned
subsidiary of RIL. It has a valuation of more than $100 billion on expert view
as of October 2022.It is the result of a corporate restructuring announced in
October 2019, resulting in all the digital initiatives and the telecommunication
assets being housed under this new subsidiary.[60] This new subsidiary holds
all the digital business assets including Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, which in
turn holds the Jio connectivity business - mobile, broadband and enterprise,
and also the other digital assets (JIO Apps, Tech backbone and Investments
in other tech entities like Haptic, Hathaway and Den Networks among others).
[61]In April 2020, RIL announced a strategic investment of ₹43,574
crore (US$5.2 billion) by Facebook into Jio Platforms. This investment
translated into a 9.99% equity stake, on a fully diluted basis.[62][non-primary
source needed] Further in May 2020, RIL sold roughly 1.15% stake in Jio
Platforms for ₹5,656 crore (US$680 million) to the American private equity
investor, Silver Lake Partners.[63] Intel became the 12th company to invest in
Reliance Jio platforms after it invested ₹1,894.50 crore ($250 million), the
total investments in Jio platforms is ₹117,588.45 crore so far.[64] On 16 July
2020, Google announced that it will acquire a 7.7% stake in Jio Platforms for
₹33,737 crore.[65] Mukesh Ambani has named his son, Akash Mukesh
Ambani as the chairperson of Jio in 2022.[66]
