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RIL AGM 2020: Mukesh Ambani And The Reliance Economy

With interests that range from oil exploration and refining to telecom and retail, Reliance is almost an economy in itself.

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani addresses RIL AGM 2020 on JioMeet on Wednesday.
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani addresses RIL AGM 2020 on JioMeet on Wednesday.

A man named John D Rockfeller set up a company that eventually went on to create a near monopoly in the oil business in the United States. His personal wealth made up about 2% of the U.S. GDP.

What Rockfeller was to oil, JP Morgan was to banking and Andrew Carnegie to steel. The 21st century has brought its own set of plutocrats. Among them is Mukesh Ambani, the head of the Reliance empire.

With interests that range from oil exploration and refining to telecom and retail, Reliance is almost an economy in itself. And it has the numbers to show for it.

  • RIL has raised over Rs 2 lakh crore in the last few months via a rights issue and strategic investments. That’s about 1% of India’s FY20 nominal GDP. It is almost equal to India’s disinvestment target of Rs 2.1 lakh crore for FY21. Many see that target as ambitious.
  • Funds raised via strategic investors alone stood at Rs 1.5 lakh crore or roughly $20 billion. That’s 40.6% of India’s FDI inflows in FY20.
  • The fundraising and its promise of becoming ‘net-debt free’ have made RIL’s investors optimistic. The stock has gained 51% since its last AGM. It stock touched an all-time high a few days before the AGM.
  • At Rs 11.7 lakh crore, RIL’s market cap was at 8.2% of the BSE market cap as of the end of trade on Wednesday.
  • RIL’s turnover in FY20 was Rs 6.59 lakh crore, 3.2% of India’s GDP.
  • It’s contribution to the exchequer was at 5.3% as a share of India’s gross tax revenue.

On Wednesday, Reliance Industries’ shares fell 3.71% to Rs 1845.60 apiece on the BSE while the Sensex ended the day little changed at 36,051.81 points. The AGM took place during market hours.