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[6][7] and revenue,[8] and the 86th largest company worldwide.[9] It is India's largest private tax payer[10] and largest exporter, accounting for 7% of India's total merchandise exports.[11]
The company has attracted controversy for reports of political corruption, cronyism, fraud, financial manipulation, and exploitation of its customers, Indian citizens, and natural resources.[12][13][14][15][16] Its chairman, Mukesh Ambani, has been described as a plutocrat.[17]
History
1958–1985
Reliance Commercial Corporation was set up in 1958 by Dhirubhai Ambani as a small venture firm trading commodities, especially spices and polyester yarn.[3] In 1965, the partnership ended and Dhirubhai continued the polyester business of the firm.[18] 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.[19] 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.[20] The issue was over-subscribed by seven times.
Shareholding
The number of shares of RIL are approx. 644.51 crore (6.44 billion).[55] 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.[55] Life Insurance Corporation of India, public sector company, is the largest non-promoter investor in the company, with 6.49% shareholding.[56]
In January 2012, the company announced a buyback program to buy a maximum of 12 crore (120 million) shares for inr 104000000000. By the end of January 2013, the company had bought back 4.62 crore (46.2 million) shares for inr 33660000000.[57]
Listing
The company's equity shares are listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) and the
Operations
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 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.[66]
In July 2024, Reliance Industries was granted the approval by United States to resume importing oil from Venezuela.[67]
The company had more than 200 subsidiary companies and more than 15 associate companies as of 2024.[68][69]
Subsidiaries
Jio Platforms
Jio Platforms Limited, essentially a technology company, is a majority-owned subsidiary of RIL. It has a valuation of more than US$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.[79] 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, Hathway and Den Networks among others).[80] In April 2020, RIL announced a strategic investment of inr 435740000000 by Facebook into Jio Platforms. This investment translated into a 9.99% equity stake, on a fully diluted basis.[81] Further in May 2020, RIL sold roughly 1.15% stake in Jio Platforms for inr 56560000000 to the American private equity investor,
Criticism and controversies
The company has attracted controversy for reports of political corruption, cronyism, fraud, financial manipulation, and exploitation of its customers, Indian citizens, and natural resources.[12][124][14][15][16] The chairman of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani, has been described as a plutocrat.[125]
ONGC litigation
Reliance demerger and family feud
The Ambani family holds around 45% of the shares in RIL.[147] Since its inception, the company was managed by its founder and chairman Dhirubhai Ambani. After suffering a stroke in 1986, he handed over the daily operations of the company to his sons Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani. After the death of Dhirubhai Ambani in 2002, the management of the company was taken up by both the brothers. In November 2004, Mukesh Ambani, in an interview, admitted to having differences with his brother Anil over 'ownership issues'.[148] He also said that the differences "are in the private domain". The share prices [149] of RIL were impacted by some margin when this news broke out. In 2005, after a bitter public feud between the brothers over the control of the Reliance empire, mother Kokilaben intervened to broker a deal splitting the RIL group business into two parts.[150] In October 2005, the split of Reliance Group was formalised. Mukesh Ambani got Reliance Industries and IPCL. Younger brother Anil Ambani received telecom, power, entertainment, and financial services business of the group.
Awards and recognition
- International Refiner of the year in 2017 at Global Refining and Petrochemicals Congress 2017 [155]
- International Refiner of the Year in 2013 at the HART Energy's 27th World Refining & Fuel Conference. This is the second time that RIL has received this Award for its Jamnagar Refinery, the first being in 2005.[156]
- The Brand Trust Report ranked Reliance Industries as the 7th most trusted brand in India in 2013 and 9th in 2014.[157][158]
- RIL was certified as 'Responsible Care Company' by the American Chemistry Council in March 2012.[159]
See also
Further reading
External links
References
- Reliance Industries Limited Integrated Annual Report 2024-25^
- https://trendlyne.com/equity/share-holding/1127/RELIANCE/latest/reliance-industries-ltd/?utm_ Stock Share Price | Get Quote | BSE www.bseindia.com, retrieved 29 January 2023^
- Reliance Industries Limited | Business, Leadership, & History | Britannica