Everything that Ambani announced at Reliance's Annual General Meeting 2021
Today, Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) held its 44th Annual General Meeting (AGM), virtually. The event commenced at 2pm and was streamed live on the JioMeet platform. The meeting was packed with announcements related to its deal with Aramco, launch of a new 4G-enabled smartphone and the company's plans about Gigafactories. Here is everything that was announced at RIL's meeting.
Jio Institute's session will commence this year
Nita Ambani, founder chairperson of the Reliance Foundation announced the first academic session at Jio Institute will commence at the Navi Mumbai campus this year, with scholarships for undergraduate and post-graduate courses. She also touched upon RIL's five-faceted approach to tackling the pandemic. The missions addressed the oxygen crisis, medical infrastructure, food supply for the underprivileged, employee welfare, and inoculation via the JioHealth platform.
RIL celebrated a 34.8 percent year-on-year increase in profit
Meanwhile, CEO Mukesh Ambani welcomed Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Chairman of Saudi Aramco and Governor of PIF, to join the Board of Reliance Industries as an Independent Director. He also shed light on RIL's efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. On the business front, RIL recorded a consolidated revenue of Rs. 5,40,000 crore with a net profit of Rs. 53,734 crore, a 34.8% year-on-year increase.
Most RIL businesses recorded profits despite pandemic
Jio recorded consolidated revenue of Rs. 86,493 crore alongside the addition of 37.9 million new subscribers. Ambani claimed Reliance Retail, with Rs. 1,53,818 crore consolidated revenue, is six times bigger than the nearest competitor. The O2C business was also profitable every quarter last year.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan replaces retiring board member YP Trivedi
His Excellency Yasir Al-Rumayyan is the first foreign national to become an RIL board member since Saudi Aramco announced plans to buy a 20% stake in RIL. The deal is expected to be executed this year. Al-Rumayyan is also the governor of the Kingdom's $430 billion sovereign wealth fund. Further, Ambani announced that nonagenarian YP Trivedi would be stepping down from the board.
'Most affordable' 4G smartphone co-developed with Google finally launched
Notably, the biggest announcement came in the form of JioPhone Next, the "most affordable" phone Jio has developed in association with Google. The JioPhone Next runs an extremely optimized version of the Android operating system that supports all Jio apps, Google apps, including the Google Play Store. It will be available from September 10 (Ganesh Chaturthi), 2021.
Google-Jio brainchild will not skimp on modern smartphone features
JioPhone Next could help India's 300 million 2G users get a taste of 4G connectivity and internet speed. Interestingly, the device will not skimp on essential features including smart cameras, voice assistant support, automatic read-aloud of on-screen text, language translation, and more.
New green energy business could help decarbonize existing O2C business
Additionally, the conglomerate announced plans to establish the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex spread over 5,000 acres in Jamnagar, Gujarat. RIL has invested Rs. 60,000 crore in this foray into the sustainable energy sector. Facilities would include dedicated factories that manufacture solar panels, large-scale intermittent energy storage batteries, electrolyzers for the production of green Hydrogen, and a fuel cell production unit.
JioFiber is now India's largest fixed broadband service provider
Evidently, Jio's broadband internet service called JioFiber also recorded year-on-year growth. Ambani claimed that JioFiber is now installed at three million Indian households, two million of which are new installations. This makes the service India's largest fixed broadband service provider. Jio's cellular internet network also handles a whopping 630 crore GB of data each month, a 45 percent increase from last year.
One in every eight Indians shops with Reliance Retail: Ambani
Finally, Ambani announced that JioMart, in a collaboration with Facebook, is now successfully integrated into WhatsApp. "JioMart's growth is a testament to its already loyal customer base, 80% of whom are repeat shoppers. JioMart New commerce's aim is to transform and grow the small merchant ecosystem, so our merchant partners prosper," he added.
