Reliance Industries' 47th AGM: Major Announcements and Insights

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), India's largest conglomerate, recently concluded its 47th  Annual General Meeting (AGM), which, as anticipated, attracted significant attention. The meeting featured several crucial announcements across RIL's various business sectors, highlighting the company’s strategic vision and future aspirations. 

From leadership changes to significant advancements in the telecom, retail, and energy sectors, the 47th AGM underscored RIL's dedication to innovation and continued growth.

In his address at AGM, Mukesh Ambani highlighted the company's commitment to serving national interests, emphasizing that Reliance prioritizes long-term value creation over short-term profits or wealth accumulation.
"Today, India is not just a participant in global economic trade but one of its major growth engines," he remarked, offering an optimistic view of the country's economic prospects.

Ambani further stated, "We are not in the business of seeking short-term profits or merely accumulating wealth... Our business is about creating wealth and ensuring energy security for the nation." He assured shareholders that Reliance is actively contributing to India's energy security and has emerged as a net producer of technology.

He also pointed out that the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) offers new avenues to address the complex challenges humanity faces.

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During the meeting, Ambani made several important announcements and projections for the company, including Reliance Jio's goal to reach 100 million home broadband customers, with 30 million new additions each month, creating the world's lowest AI inferencing costs, and establishing gigawatt-scale AI-ready data centers in Jamnagar, Gujarat, among other initiatives.

This AGM also marked a significant milestone for Reliance, as it was the first one since Ambani's children—Isha, Akash, and Anant—joined the company as non-executive directors in December 2023.

Ahead of the AGM on Thursday, Reliance Industries (RIL) saw its share price rise by up to 2.54%, reaching ₹3,072 per share during intraday trading on the BSE. At 01:56 PM IST, the share price was up by 2.08%, trading at ₹3,058.
In comparison, the BSE Sensex was up by 0.48%, standing at 82,178 points. The stock experienced a notable increase in the afternoon after the company revealed plans to issue bonus shares on a 1:1 basis, meaning one bonus share for every share owned by shareholders. RIL has previously issued 1:1 bonus shares in September 2017 and November 2009.

Reliance Industries Ltd is set to discuss a 1:1 bonus share proposal during its board meeting on September 5.
In a stock exchange filing on August 29, RIL stated, "A meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company is scheduled for Thursday, September 5, 2024, to consider and recommend to the shareholders for their approval, the issuance of bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1 to the Equity Shareholders of the Company through the capitalization of reserves."
This move is expected to enhance the liquidity of RIL's shares in the stock market, making them more accessible to a broader range of investors. This bonus issue marks the first since 2017, when the company also issued shares at a 1:1 ratio.

During the 47th Annual General Meeting, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani addressed the shareholders, stating, "At 1:45 pm today, Reliance Industries Limited informed the stock exchanges that the Board of Directors will meet on September 5 to consider issuing bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1. As Reliance grows, we generously reward our shareholders, and in turn, this drives further growth and value creation. This virtuous cycle has been the cornerstone of your company’s continuous progress."

Reliance Industries Limited 47th AGM Key Takeaways:

Digital Services

•    Jio has become the world’s largest mobile data company with 490 million users, each consuming over 30 GB of data monthly on average.
•    Reliance filed over 2,555 patents last year, predominantly in the fields of bio-energy, solar and other green energy sources, and high-value chemicals.
•    Jio’s network handles nearly 8% of global mobile traffic.
•    Jio is a true deep-tech innovator, having developed a fully homegrown 5G stack at its core, designed by Jio's engineers.
•    Reliance has built an AI-native digital infrastructure across all its businesses.
•    Jio aims to extend the benefits of AI to every Indian, everywhere, much like it did with broadband.
•    Jio is creating a comprehensive suite of AI tools called Jio Brain, which Reliance is beginning to use to drive transformation across its operating companies.
•    Reliance is laying the foundation for a national AI infrastructure and plans to establish gigawatt-scale AI-ready data centers in Jamnagar, powered by its green energy initiatives.
•    AI will significantly benefit four sectors: agriculture, education, healthcare, and small businesses.
•    Reliance’s AI models and services will be hosted within India, fully complying with the country’s data and privacy regulations.
•    Reliance envisions a delivery model called Connected Intelligence, where every user can access data and AI services from any device, anywhere, over low-latency broadband networks.
•    Jio users will receive up to 100 GB of free cloud storage to store and access digital content, with the Jio AI-Cloud Welcome offer launching during Diwali this year, providing affordable cloud storage and AI-powered services.
•    Jio will launch Jio TvOS, a 100% home-grown operating system for its set-top boxes.
•    HelloJio has been enhanced with the latest GenAI technologies, improving its natural language understanding.
•    Jio will introduce Jio Phonecall AI, which allows users to record and store calls using AI, converting them from voice to text.
•    Reliance is targeting to double its revenue and EBITDA within the next three to four years.
•    Jio has developed the JioHome app as a personal control center to manage everything at home, from Wi-Fi to smart devices.

Media and Entertainment

•    Reliance’s partnership with Disney marks a new era in India’s entertainment industry, combining content creation with digital streaming.
Reliance Retail
•    Reliance Retail is among the top 5 global retailers in terms of the number of stores and among the top 10 in market capitalization.
•    It ranks among the top 20 retailers in employee count and within the top 30 by revenue.
•    Reliance Retail has built 19,000 stores covering nearly 80 million square feet across over 7,000 cities, partnering with 4 million kirana stores in grocery, expanding at 2.5 times the rate of modern retail.
Exploration and Production
•    Reliance’s fields now contribute nearly 30% of India’s domestic gas production.
•    Jio-bp has become India’s leading fast and reliable charging company with over 4,800 charge points nationwide.
O2C Business
•    The O2C business achieved revenue of ₹5,64,749 crore ($67.9 billion) and an EBITDA of ₹62,393 crore ($7.5 billion) last year.
•    New integrated facilities in the vinyl value chain will add 1.5 MMTPA of PVC and CPVC at Dahej and Nagothane by FY27.
•    Reliance is constructing India’s first integrated carbon fiber plant at Hazira, set to be among the top three globally.
•    Reliance is on track to reach a capacity to recycle 5 billion PET bottles per year by next year, adding a million tonnes of specialty polyester capacity by FY27.

New Energy

•    Reliance has initiated a pilot on 1,000 acres of arid wasteland to establish a first-of-its-kind integrated CBG plant.
•    Production of Reliance’s own solar photovoltaic (PV) modules is set to begin by the end of this year.
•    Production at the integrated advanced chemistry-based battery manufacturing facility at Jamnagar will commence in the second half of next year.
•    The Jamnagar facility will have a 30 GWh annual capacity.
•    By 2025, Jamnagar will become the cradle of Reliance’s New Energy business, housing the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Manufacturing Complex, which will be the world’s largest integrated ecosystem at a single location.
•    Reliance has leased wasteland in Kutch, about 250 km from Jamnagar, with the potential to generate approximately 150 billion units of electricity over 10 years, providing nearly 10% of India’s energy needs.
•    Reliance has secured access to nearly 2,000 acres of land at Kandla port, complementing its marine infrastructure at Jamnagar. This will accelerate the development of renewable energy on a round-the-clock basis (RE-RTC) and green fuels projects in a modular and phased manner.
•    Work has started on a fully automated, multi-GW electrolyser manufacturing facility on the west coast, which will be ready by 2026.
•    Reliance has initiated an energy plantation pilot on 1,000 acres of arid wasteland to establish an integrated CBG plant.
•    By the end of this year, Reliance will commence the production of its own solar photovoltaic (PV) modules.

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