Reliance eyeing acquisition, rural push
Reliance Industries Ltd plans to invest $8-$9 billion over three to four years at its petrochemical and refining complex in Gujarat, Chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Friday.
Reliance, India’s most valuable company with a market value of $97 billion, sees acquisitions and initiatives in agriculture and rural areas as key growth drivers, he told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting.
“Reliance is actively pursuing an acquisition mode of growth,” Ambani said, adding it was shifting strategy of building businesses from scratch as it faced intense competition, limited market opportunity and rapid changes in technology.
Its subsidiary Reliance Petroleum Ltd, which is building a 580,000 barrels per day refinery at the Jamnagar complex in Gujarat, will be completed ahead of schedule, Ambani said.
The facility, which is coming up near Reliance Industries’s 660,000 barrels per day refinery, was scheduled for completion by the end of next year. Ambani said Reliance Industries’ paraxylene capacity would jump to 4.5 million tonnes a year from 1.9 million tonnes in two phases.
Paraxylene is used to make polyester and plastics. Ambani said Reliance’s retail venture, which had set up 300 stores in 30 cities and employed 6,000 staff, did not threaten small shopkeepers and traders.
Organised retail not to hurt vendors’ interest
Reliance is spending more than $5.5 billion in its retail business but plans have faced protests from small traders, forcing it to shut down some stores and lay off workers.
“We are sensitive to the interests of small shopkeepers. Our retail initiative will in no way jeopardise their interest and that of small vendor, who service consumers,” Ambani said, adding the retail venture would help, not hurt, small traders.
“Our initiative will enable them improve their income and serve consumers better.” Shares in Reliance Industries were little changed at 2,629.15 rupees at 0753 GMT in a weak Mumbai market, after hitting an all-time high of 2,724.
The stock has more than doubled this year, driven in part by hopes for a stocks split, traders said. Reliance Petroleum, in which Chevron Corp holds 5 per cent, was up 1.9 per cent at Rs 180.05, trading at three times the price at the end of last year.
