Saudi Aramco chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan joins Reliance board: Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani told shareholders at the company’s 44th AGM on Thursday that the country is in midst of humanitarian crisis owing to coronavirus pandemic.

“Our business and financial success since last AGM have exceeded expectations despite Covid pandemic. But what has given me far greater happiness than our business performance is RIL’s humanitarian efforts during these exceedingly difficult times,” said Mukesh Ambani.

Even in a challenging environment, RIL’s performance continued to be outstanding. Consolidated revenue was Rs 5.4 trillion, consolidated EBITDA was Rs 98,000 cr, and almost 50% of EBITDA was contributed by consumer businesseses, added Ambani.

RIL’s contribution to Indian economy remained unmatched in FY21 – 6.8% of India’s merchandise exports, 75,000 new jobs, Rs 21,044 crore of customs plus excise, Rs 85,306 crore of GST plus VAT, and Rs 3,213 crore of income tax, he said.

RIL raised $44.4 billion – largest ever capital raise by any company in a year globally. “This capital raise is a strong vote of confidence by global investors in India’s growth potential,” said Ambani.

Ambani also announced that Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Chairman of Saudi Aramco and Governor of PIF, will join the Board of Reliance Industries as Independent Director. “His joining our Board is also the beginning of internationalisation of Reliance,” he said.

Harvard educated, Al-Rumayyan, 51, will replace Yogendra P Trivedi, 92, who has expressed desire to retire, Ambani said at the company’s annual shareholder meeting.

On the sale of 20 per cent stake in the O2C business, he said the deal is likely to conclude this year.

“Continued engagement and resolve from both sides, even during this pandemic, is a testimony of strong relationship between Saudi Aramco and Reliance. I expect our partnership to be formalised in an expeditious manner this year,” added Mukesh Ambani.

“Our O2C business faced unprecedented challenges by severe economic contraction at the beginning of year. Yet we were probably the only company globally that operated at near full capacity and was profitable in every quarter,” added Ambani.

He also said the company rewarded its shareholders with the largest and the most successful Rights Issue ever by an Indian company. “Our retail shareholders have made 4x returns in just one year on their rights shares,” added Ambani.

Ambani said the company aims to bridge the green energy divide in India and globally.

“As one of the biggest energy markets in the world, India will play a leading role in transforming the global energy landscape. We have established Reliance New Energy Council with some of the finest minds globally. 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. We plan to build four Giga Factories to manufacture and integrate all critical components of New Energy ecosystem – solar photovoltaic module factory, energy storage battery factory, electrolyser factory, fuel cell factory,” said Ambani.

“Over the next 3 years we will invest over Rs 60,000 crore in these initiatives. We will invest an additional Rs 15,000 crore 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 3 years,” he said about the company’s future plans.

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