Reliance is truly blessed to make a humble but crucial contribution to creating a better India and a better world. All our businesses continue to be key drivers of the Indian economy, said Mukesh Ambani during the company's 47th AGM on August 29. He believes that Reliance has become a success story because it has grown with a purpose. Ambani is optimistic about the future and expects Reliance to enter into the top 30 most valued companies list in the world, shortly.
Here are the key highlights of the AGM:
Top-30 League Vision:
During his speech, Ambani said, "Our future is far brighter than our past. For example, Reliance took over two decades to be among the Top 500 companies globally. The following two decades saw us joining the league of the world's top 50 most valuable companies. With our strategic adoption of Deep-Tech and Advance Manufacturing, I can see Reliance earning a place in the Top-30 League shortly."
The billionaire told his shareholders, "As I told you last year, Reliance has now become a net producer of technology. Breakthrough technologies and innovation have always been the greatest wealth creators for nations, as well as for corporations. Reliance internalised this Vikas Mantra at every stage of our growth. In recent years, this mantra has transformed Reliance into a Deep-Tech company with advanced manufacturing capabilities in three seminal ways."
Firstly, he said, "We are embedding innovative technologies in every single business to generate ever-greater value for our customers." And secondly, he said, talented engineers and scientists are incubating several critical technological innovations in-house to enhance our product and service offerings.
Thirdly, he added, Reliance has built an AI-native digital infrastructure for all Reliance businesses and has built our software stack, integrating end-to-end workflows and real-time dashboards.
He said, "With the success of our Atmanirbhar efforts, we are accelerating India's transformation into a Deep-Tech Nation. Reliance spent over ₹3,643 crore ($437 million) in FY24 towards R&D, taking our spend on research to over ₹11,000 crore ($1.5 billion) in the last four years alone. We have more than 1,000 scientists and researchers working on critical research projects across all our businesses. I feel proud to inform you that last year Reliance filed over 2,555 patents, mainly in the areas of bio-energy innovations, solar and other green energy sources, and high-value chemicals."
"Digital is another principal area of our in-house research. We have filed patents in 6G, 5G, AI-Large Language Models, AI-Deep Learning, Big Data, Devices, Internet of Things, and Narrowband-IoT. I assure you that this ongoing tech-driven transformation of Reliance will propel your company into a new orbit of hyper-growth and multiply its value for years to come," Ambani said.
In terms of market share, Reliance is currently the 45th most valued company in the world, and the first in India. It has a market capitalisation of $245.75 billion.
Bonus Issue Benefit To Shareholders:
Ambani believes shareholders are the backbone of Reliance, and they deserve substantial rewards. Hence, he announced that the company has declared a bonus issue of a 1:1 ratio. This will be the third bonus issue by the company,
Ambani said, "Our Founder firmly believed that you are the backbone of Reliance and that you deserve a substantial reward from time to time as your company grows from strength to strength. I have supreme confidence in the robust performance and bright future growth prospects of all our businesses."
Based on this confidence, he said, I would like to share some good news with you today. At 1.45 pm on August 29, Reliance Industries Limited sent a notice to the stock exchanges that the Board of Directors will meet on 5th September to consider issuing Bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1."
He said, "When Reliance grows, we reward our shareholders handsomely. And when our shareholders are rewarded handsomely, Reliance grows faster and creates more value. This virtuous cycle has been the guarantor of your company's perpetual progress."
Earlier, Reliance delivered 1:1 bonus issues each in November 2009 and September 2017.
Business & Financial Performance:
Ambani highlighted the following financial and business achievements of Reliance:
- Reliance Industries posted a record consolidated turnover of ₹10,00,122 crore ($119.9 billion) in FY24, becoming India's first company ever to cross ₹10 lakh crore ($119.9 billion) mark in annual revenues.
- Reliance's EBITDA was ₹1,78,677 crore ($21.4 billion), while the net profit was ₹79,020 crore ($9.5 billion).
- Reliance's exports were ₹2,99,832 crore ($35.9 billion), accounting for 8.2% of India's total merchandise exports.
- Reliance invested cumulatively over ₹5.28 lakh crore ($66.0 billion) in the last three years.
- Reliance remained the single largest contributor to the national exchequer, contributing ₹1,86,440 crore ($22.4 billion) through various taxes and duties in FY 2023-24. In the last three years, Reliance's contribution to the exchequer crossed ₹5.5 lakh crore ($68.7 billion), the highest by any Indian corporation.
- Reliance also expanded its social impact with a 25% increase in its annual CSR spending to ₹1,592 crore ($191 million). With this, Reliance's total CSR spend for the last three years crossed ₹4,000 crore ($502 million), the largest among all Indian corporates.
Job Creation:
Ambani said, "Reliance continues to be ranked as India's best employer by several external agencies. I am happy to state that Reliance continues to be amongst the largest employers in India."
According to the billionaire, the nature of employment creation is changing globally, primarily due to technological interventions and flexible business models. Therefore, rather than just the traditional direct employment model, Reliance is embracing newer incentive-based engagement models. This helps the employees earn better and instils the spirit of enterprise in them. That is why the direct employment numbers show a slight dip in the annual figures, although the total employment created by Reliance has gone up.
"We added over 1.7 lakh new jobs last year. If we include both traditional and newer engagement models of employment, our headcount is nearly 6.5 lakh today. Among all of Reliance's record achievements so far, this one will always hold a special place in my heart, because employment creation for India's talented youth has to be our top national priority," he revealed.
Jio Financial Services:
On the newly listed NBFC of Reliance Industries, Ambani said, "Last year, Reliance floated the Financial Services business as a separately listed company, which helped unlock significant value for our investors. Today, Jio Financial Services is worth nearly ₹2.2 lakh crore ($26.4 billion) in market capitalisation. I am sure that JFS will continue to create great value for the society, for the nation and, in the process, for the shareholders as well."
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