Reliance Industries Chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani, on Thursday, announced the company’s mega-investment in a new business – green energy – at the 44th annual general meeting (AGM) of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). He also assured that the deal with Saudi Aramco would close this year, promised the launch of the Jio-Google phone in September and 5G soon, and provided an update on digital and retail businesses.
The majority of the Ambani family took the stage in turns at the opening of the AGM. Mukesh Ambani began by presenting the board and business leaders, followed by children Akash and Esha, who paid homage to COVID frontline employees. Nita Ambani, who is also a RIL director, spoke about the foundation’s numerous efforts. Mukesh Ambani began to offer his thoughts on the business after around 30 minutes of the discussion.
“Reliance will make its New Energy business a truly global business. In 2016, we launched Jio with the aim of bridging the Digital Divide in India. Now, in 2021, we are launching our new energy business with the aim of bridging the green energy divide in India and globally,” said Ambani.
RIL is constructing a Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex on 5,000 acres in Jamnagar as part of this strategy.
Ambani also added, “The first part of the plan is to build four giga factories. These will manufacture and fully integrate all the critical components of the New Energy ecosystem. One, for the production of solar energy – we will build an integrated solar photovoltaic module factory. Two, for the storage of intermittent energy – we will build an advanced energy storage battery factory. Three, for the production of green hydrogen – we will build an electrolyser factory. Four, for converting hydrogen into motive and stationary power – we will build a fuel cell factory.”
Aramco Deal
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Chairman of Saudi Aramco and Governor of the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has been appointed as an Independent Director to the Board of Reliance Industries Limited.
“He is one of the most renowned names in energy and finance globally. I am sure that we will immensely benefit from his rich experience of running one of the world’s largest companies and also one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. His joining our board is also the beginning of the internationalisation of Reliance,” said Mukesh Ambani while addressing the shareholders.
On the strategic partnership with Aramco, Ambani said, “These discussions have been held in the spirit of mutual commitment to convert our long-standing relationship into a perpetual partnership. This continued engagement and resolve from both sides, even during this pandemic, is a testimony of the strong relationship between Saudi Aramco and Reliance. I expect our partnership to be formalised in an expeditious manner during this year.”
Carbon Fibre Plant
Reliance Industries is putting money into India’s first large-scale carbon fibre facility to support hydrogen and solar ecosystems.
“Our new Green Vision also has immense benefits for our existing O2C business. First, we will use solar energy on an economically attractive basis to decarbonise our existing O2C business and accelerate our journey to become net carbon zero. Second, we will use green hydrogen and CO2 as raw materials to develop a road map for new green chemicals, green fertiliser and e-fuels. Third, we will commercialise with global partners our own world-beating proprietary Multi-zone Catalytic Cracking (MCC) Technology to optimise the fossil fuel transition to sustainable chemical and material building blocks. Thus, we will transform our legacy business into a sustainable, circular and net-zero carbon materials business… one that will provide growing returns over several decades,” detailed Ambani.
‘JioPhone Next’ In Partnership With Google
Reliance Industries has announced the introduction of JioPhone, a smartphone built in collaboration with global internet giant Google. The phone, dubbed the JioPhone Next, would be commercially accessible commencing on the day of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival, which falls on September 10 this year.
“…As you have come to expect from Jio, it is my promise that JioPhone Next will be by far the most affordable smartphone not just in India, but globally,” the RIL managing director told shareholders on Thursday.
“Jio has truly democratised digital connectivity in India… by offering the highest quality, most affordable 4G broadband services in the world. India still has nearly 300 million mobile users who are unable to escape from inefficient and exorbitant 2G services, because even a basic 4G smartphone remains unaffordable for these users,” said Ambani. “Therefore, an ultra-affordable 4G smartphone is essential to make India “2G-mukt.”
“JioPhone Next is powered by an extremely optimised version of the Android Operating System, that has been jointly developed by Jio and Google, especially for the Indian market,” he added.
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5G launch
Reliance Jio Infocomm, a wholly owned subsidiary of RIL, will be the first business in the country to provide 5G services. Mukesh Ambani told shareholders that the firm is ready with its complete 5G network and infrastructure across the country, as well as at its Navi Mumbai headquarters.
Partnership with Facebook
Mukesh Ambani stated that the initial set of WhatsApp and JioMart integrations have been released on a trial basis.
“…The response from WhatsApp and JioMart customers is encouraging… along with lots of valuable feedback. Our joint teams are actively developing the full new commerce solution linking merchants and consumers, and we plan to progressively launch these over the next few quarters,” said Ambani.
Partnership with Microsoft
Reliance, in collaboration with Microsoft, has begun operating Jio-Azure Cloud Datacentres with a capacity of 10 MW in two cities – Jamnagar and Nagpur.
“We are currently onboarding the initial group of pilot customers… and we plan to expand our datacentre capacity and our offerings to a growing number of SMEs and start-ups over the coming quarters,” declared Ambani.
