INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Reliance Industries Group Chairman Mukesh Ambani addressed shareholders at the company's 41st annual general meeting
He unveiled the much-awaited Jio GigaFiber and a high-end phone, JioPhone 2
Besides this, Ambani also announced plans to tap e-commerce market and an laid out ambitious plans for the energy sector
Here is the full text of Mukesh Ambani's speech
My Dear Shareowners,
A very warm good morning to each and every one of you.
It gives me
great pleasure to welcome you to the 41st Annual General Meeting of Reliance Industries Limited.
This is the first AGM as Reliance begins
its Golden Decade.
The Company's accounts for the year ended March 31, 2018, along with the Directors' and Auditors' report, a Letter to
the Shareholders, and Management's Discussion and Analysis, have already been circulated to you.
With your permission, I would like to
Business and Financial PerformanceDear Shareowners,
This year has been yet another transformational year for Reliance.
On one hand, our
new-age consumer businesses have started delivering profits.
On the other, our hydrocarbon business (refining and petrochemicals) has
further scaled up its capabilities to become more profitable, integrated and predictable in its earnings profile
Together, our hydrocarbon and consumer businesses have helped create more records and scale greater heights than
ever before.
I am delighted
to report yet another record breaking performance by your company.
Our net profits grew by more than 20.6% to Rs 36,075 crore
Reliance's earnings profile underwent a fundamental change this year
increase is especially remarkable because it is taking place at a time when the hydrocarbon businesses are growing rapidly.
I can tell you
with confidence that Reliance has reached an inflection point.
As the Golden Decade rolls on, our consumer businesses will contribute nearly
as much to the overall earnings of the company as our energy and petrochemical businesses.
Reliance continues to be India's largest
exporter accounting for 8.9 % of India's total merchandise exports with a value of Rs 176,117 crore with access to markets in 113
the Indian private sector
42,553 crore of GST, which is another record
Reliance is also the highest Income tax payer in the private sector in India, paying Rs 9,844 crore during the year.
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spoke, we have doubled our customer base to over 215 million now.
215 million customers within 22 months of start is a record that no
technology company has been able to achieve
anywhere in the world.
In the last one year, we have achieved UNPRECEDENTED GROWTH starting with
an already existing large base:
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Data usage has grown from 125 crore GBs per month to more than 240 crore GBs per month
We were the world's largest mobile data network last year and
the gap from the others has only widened in the last 12 months.
Voice usage
on the network has grown from 250 crore minutes per day to more than 530 crore minutes per day.
The amount of video consumption has grown
from 165 crore hours per month to more than 340 crore hours per month.
Doubling of these metrics at such scale is truly unparalleled.
Our
customers are actively engaged with us for more than 290 minutes per day on an average.
Friends, Jio's motto is simple:
We are determined
other network in India.
We are on track towards achieving our target of 99% population coverage with 4G-LTE.
This means that Jio will be
doubled our NETWORK CAPACITY.
Even after serving the needs of our 215+ MILLION customers, the capacity utilization of the Jio network is
LESS THAN 20%.
Which means, we can multiply our customer base without additional investment.
We have achieved this unprecedented network
month of the past year.
We recognize that just around 1% of our customers are yet to enjoy the best user experience some of the time.
But we
are working tirelessly to satisfy and delight them as well.
Jio is a customer obsessed organization and will work harder to ensure that not
even one consumer remains dissatisfied on our network.
Let me now update you about the JIOPHONE.
JioPhone has taken the country by storm
I am pleased to announce that we have more than 25 MILLION JIOPHONE USERS in India
We are now taking the JioPhone to the next level, with added capabilities and functionalities.
Friends, WHAT COMES NEXT FOR
BROADBAND
in fixed-line broadband.
India is ranked quite low at 134th in the global ranking for fixed broadband,
Poor fixed-line infrastructure has
been a key reason for this.
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In countries with better developed communication infrastructure, more than 80% of data consumption happens INDOORS THROUGH FIXED-LINE
CONNECTIVITY in homes, in offices and other premises.
Optical Fiber based fixed-line broadband is the future.
Fixed-line broadband offers
HUNDREDS OF MEGABITS, even GIGABITS per second of data speeds.
Jio is determined to move India to among the top 5 in fixed-line broadband,
Your company has already invested over Rs 250,000 crore for creating state-of-the-art digital infrastructure to provide mobile and broadband
connectivity across the country, with the largest fiber footprint.
We will now extend this fiber connectivity to homes, merchants, small and
medium enterprises and large enterprises
simultaneously across 1,100 cities to offer the most advanced fiber-based broadband connectivity
and outside the
home.
This will redefine 24X7 emergency help for all homes.
FOR MERCHANTS and SMALLBUSINESSES, fixed-line broadband
business you empower them to compete on level terms with larger businesses.
Jio is thus performing a task of
VITAL NATIONAL
IMPORTANCE.Because the success of Indian small businesses and small merchants translates directly into faster and more
sustainable growth
fiber based broadband service JIO GIGAFIBER.
Dear Friends, The three most popular apps YouTube, WhatsApp and Facebook will be available to
all the JioPhone users from 15th August.
Jio was born with a purpose.To transform India with the power of the Digital Revolution.
For this
vision to be realised, every Indian must become a DIGITAL INDIAN.
However, as many as 500 million Indians still use feature phones, who
25 million Indians have availed this scheme and become JioPhone users.This scheme will, of course, continue.
Today we are introducing
another attractive offer to feature phone users.
It is the JIOPHONE "MONSOON HUNGAMA" offer.
Starting July 21st they can exchange their
existing feature phone for a brand new JIOPHONE for just Rs 501! We have thus reduced the effective entry cost of the JioPhone from Rs 1500
to as low as Rs 501.
Starting 15th August, our JioPhone2 will be available at an introductory price of only Rs 2999.
Our purpose is to
accelerate the Digital Revolution in India with the extreme affordability of a JioPhone, so that each and every Indian can access the
internet and enjoy the Digital Life.
Further details about both these offers will soon be made available on jio.com.
With the added
functionalities, our wider network reach across India and strong retail presence across India, the goal that I have now set for our Jio team
is to enable 100 MILLION users on this JIOPHONE platform in the shortest possible time.
Friends, JioGigaFiber creates magical experiences
of thousands of homes.
Starting this Independence Day, August 15th you can start registering your interest for JioGigaFiber through
both
MyJio and Jio.com.
We will prioritize our JioGigaFiber rollout to those localities from where we receive the highest number of
registrations.
JIOGIGAFIBER will be the largest greenfield fixed-line broadband rollout anywhere in the world, with rollout happening in
1,100 cities of India simultaneously.
So, this 15th of August, Jio welcomes you to celebrate the day of India's Freedom by signing in for
every Indian's Digital Freedom.
Make sure you register your interest, and more importantly make sure that your neighbors register so that
your locality will be among the first to get JIOGIGAFIBER!
At Jio, we are determined to take India to be among the top-5 in broadband
connectivity, both for mobility as well as fiber based wireline connectivity.
We have built future proof networks and will continue to
deliver the most advanced technologies to our customers for decades to come.
With Jio, we have built a Digital Connectivity Platform of
unparalleled capacity and a nation-wide reach
This has enabled Reliance to strategically reinvent itself as a Technology Platform Company.
Digital platforms have become the new-age
factories and service providers.
These new hyper-growth engines of value creation are fired by the combination of digital connectivity,
computing power and software.
They use data as the raw material, and Artificial Intelligence plays the role that electricity played in the
past.
The world is entering into an era of Anytime Value-Creation, Everywhere Value-Creation, and Value-Creation by anyone who has a smart
business idea.
I am happy to inform you that your company has prepared itself for this exciting future of non-linear and exponential
Reliance RetailDear Shareowners, Reliance Retail has been one of the catalysts for the growth of modern organised retail in India
It is the
LARGEST, FASTEST GROWINGAND MOST PROFITABLE retail company in India
Our 7,500 stores received over 350 million footfalls last year.
Our revenues crossed Rs 69,000 crore, a growth of over 100% year on
year.
More than 4,000 new stores were opened during the year, an unprecedented expansion in the retail industry.
We now operate over 7,500
stores across more than 4,400 cities.
Reliance Digital is the LARGEST RETAILER OF CONSUMER ELECTRONICS in the country.
Reliance Trends
It sells nearly 1.2 crore garments a month or over 33,000 garments every hour.
In Grocery, we are the LARGEST MODERN TRADE RETAILER.
We sold
over 500,000 tonnes of groceries last year, connecting thousands of farmers and small manufacturers to happy customers.
Over the years
Reliance Market has been creating value for small merchants by bringing both buying and operational efficiency to their businesses.
The
existing ecosystem of 3 million plus partners will be enabled further with our digital merchant platform.
Reliance Retail has emerged as the
partner of choice for International brands.
It operates the largest portfolio of 41 international retail brands in India.
Our network of
over 1,300 fully automated and future ready petroleum outlets on key highways cater to major demand centres and witnessed robust revenue
growth.
Based on our growth initiatives and commitment to our customers, I am confident that Reliance Retail will become bigger, better and
more profitable.
Friends, As Reliance transitions to become a TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM COMPANY, we see our biggest growth opportunity in creating
a hybrid, online-to-offline NEW COMMERCE PLATFORM.
We shall create this by integrating and synergising the power of Reliance Retail's
crore and growing customer footfalls at Reliance Retail stores
The 21.5 crore and growing JIO connectivity customers.
The targeted 5 crore
market connectivity.
Hence, we will integrate the physical and digital marketplaces in a uniquely collaborative BHARAT-INDIA JODO
enterprise.
We see merchants and small shop owners as critical customer interaction and fulfilment points, who will share a mutually
beneficial win-win relationship with us.
Through the deployment of Merchant Point of Sale for small shop owners, we will enable them to do
everything that large enterprises and large ecommerce players are able to do.
They will be able to manage inventory, keep digital records
and file returns, improve working capital management, retain and upgrade customers, access new customers, run promotion and loyalty
programs, link to our highly efficient supply chain, and much more.
Our NEW COMMERCE PLATFORM will redefine retail in India by enabling all
customers - rich or poor, whether at home or on mobile - to transition from simple shopping to personalised Immersive shopping
experience.
This will be made possible by Augmented Reality, holographic technology and VR devices
Our digital tools will predict and anticipate the needs of shoppers.
JioGigaFiber will bring the entire marketplace to large screens powered
by high speed broadband at home.
We will also leverage Reliance Retail's deep insights into Indian customers, large local presence, and
best-in-class supply chain.
We will invest in the best data analytics engines using artificial intelligence to bring a powerful offering to
all consumers, merchants and small businesses.
We will also facilitate availability of financing to small shopkeepers and merchants to
improve their capital efficiency, so that they can become competitive and grow their businesses.
Thus, the principal purpose of our hybrid
NEW COMMERCE PLATFORM is to promote Shared Prosperity
This will enable even the smallest merchant to earn more, employ more people, and give common Indian customers the best value for their
Media and EntertainmentLet me turn to our media and entertainment platform
We have already created a large portfolio of media and digital properties, which are as widespread as they are valuable.
We have the largest
portfolio of TV Channels in India - 69 Channels across News and Entertainment.
We have India's largest TV News Platform in News18 that is
multilingual providing independent and reliable news.
We also have India's largest entertainment platform which spans all major regional
languages.
We are consistently ranked amongst the top players in each of our segments.
We are the partner of choice for leading global
brands like CNBC, CNN, Forbes, History, MTV and Nickelodeon
Our digital properties MyJio, JioTV, JioCinema, JioMusic, BookMyShow, FirstPost and MoneyControl are all leaders in their category with
significant embedded value.
We have a leading market share in television broadcasting, movie production and distribution, digital content
and commerce, print magazines, mobile content and allied media services businesses,
One in every two Indians consume Network18's
content.
One in every five internet users in India is on Network18 websites or apps
Regional content and digital delivery continue to be the focus of Network18, which will drive its future growth.
The media and entertainment
platform with a viewership in excess of 700 million enables us to achieve a very special societal purpose:
Our purpose is two-fold: to
provide wholesome entertainment and to enrich the power of Ideas that can make India a
great nation.
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Other Platform OpportunitiesDear Friends,
Let me illustrate the power of our PLATFORM BUSINESS STRATEGY by highlighting three other
large
opportunities.
AgricultureFirst, and most important, the AGRICULTURE PLATFORM.
In agriculture, India has an unprecedented opportunity
prices.
I am sure that if we combine digital technology tools with the innate knowledge and wisdom of Indian farmers, Jio can usher in a
SMART NEW GREEN REVOLUTION in India.
EducationSecond, the EDUCATION PLATFORM.
The purpose of this platform is to overcome the challenge of
poor and inadequate educational infrastructure by digitally delivering high-quality education and skills training to schools, colleges and
universities across the country.
This will enable every educated Indian youth to earn a respectable livelihood and contribute to the
nation's wealth.
We have to equip our children to be digitally-savvy right from school.
So that we can lay the foundation for a sustained
leadership in the digital age for India.
Through Jio, we are providing broadband connectivity to all the 58,000 colleges and will connect
1.9 million schools across the country.
These educational institutions collectively provide education to nearly 200 million children.
And
all these can be done in less than two years.
Jio will achieve this by partnering with a large number of stakeholders.
Once this is done,
India will have one of the most-digitally enabled education systems in the world.
HealthcareThird, the HEALTHCARE PLATFORM.
Here our purpose
is to ensure affordable and quality healthcare to all, which is both a national necessity and a
national responsibility.
For the first time
considerably overcome the deficit of physical infrastructure of hospitals and doctors by universalising
telemedicine, tele-radiology,
eDiagnostics, genomics and other cost-effective cloud-based solutions.
This cannot happen overnight.
It is a long-term gestation
opportunity, and we will pursue this with a host of partners to realise this for India to become a global leader in healthcare.
To
summarise, our DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY PLATFORM has served as the foundation on which we are building our NEW COMMERCE PLATFORM, OUR MEDIA AND
ENTERTAINMENT PLATFORM, EDUCATION PLATFORM, HEALTHCARE PLATFORM and AGRICULTURE PLATFORM.
Going forward, we shall build more such
platforms.
Each of these will create significant shareholder value and enormous societal value.
Hydrocarbons BusinessDear Friends, Let me
now turn to the performance of our hydrocarbons business of petrochemicals and refining.
This year Jamnagar completes 20 years of operations
Jamnagar has expanded manifold in scale, complexity, scope and size since we commissioned the world's largest greenfield refinery in
1998.
Let me update you on the progress of the projects, as we are now nearing the end of our largest-ever investment at Jamnagar.
We have
successfully commissioned and stabilized the world's largest Paraxylene complex
Today, Reliance is the second largest PX producer in the world and Jamnagar has the distinction of being the largest manufacturing facility
of PX in the world with 4.2 million MT of capacity.
We also commissioned the largest off-Gas cracker complex in the world
Using our Refinery off-gasses as feedstock, this cracker is the most cost competitive ethylene cracker, globally
This positions us uniquely, as one of the most efficient producers of Polymers in the world
I am proud to report that both these projects have been completed in a record time frame, at world-beating capital productivity and
Both the Paraxylene and Cracker complexes are already running substantially higher than their design capacity.
The Butyl rubber project
high-value materials will cater to the growing needs of India's transportation and alternate energy sectors
All these projects position your company amongst the leading and most-diversified and integrated producer of
materials globally.
In
Petrochemicals, we continued to generate value for our customers through constant innovation and product development.
As an example, we
launched R-Elan, a super micro-denier polyester with unique anti-sweat and anti-bacterial properties for use in active wear
Similarly, our RecoSilk and SuperFeel products have emerged as products of choice in ladies fashion wear.
Environmental regulation is now a
global imperative.
I am happy to state that your company is the largest recycler of PET in India recycling over 2 billion bottles
annually.
We are committed to becoming a leader in the emerging circular economy and to become one of the largest recyclers of plastics in
India, All these initiatives will enhance our capabilities and competencies, making us future-ready, as we transition from a cyclical
business to annuity business.
Dear Shareowners,
Let me now turn to Refining business.
This year we commissioned the world's largest and
most unique Petcoke gasification project
I am pleased to share that the DTAGasification complex startup and stabilization was accomplished in a record time of less than 120 days
against a typical 9 to 12 months period required for a project of this magnitude and complexity by global peers.
The gasification project
will eliminate the dependence of the refinery on imported natural gas and add value to our profitability, particularly in a high oil price
is the integration of Refining with Petrochemicals.
As a result of our robust and flexible configuration we are also uniquely positioned to
take advantage of emerging opportunities in view of IMO 2020.
The forthcoming changes in sulphur specifications of bunker fuel will lead to
a significant jump in demand for low sulphur distillates.
Equally it will benefit versatile and complex refiners like us with a capability
complex in 1996-1999 when Reliance challenged the industry paradigm and set a new benchmark by maximizing Propylene and Aromatics
We took a further quantum jump with the commissioning of the world's largest Refinery off gas cracker and the Paraxylene complex.
These
set of new projects have redefined Oil to Chemicals integration
It is our belief that with the rapidly increasing demand for Petrochemicals maximizing Oil to Chemicals conversion will play a catalytic
role in determining profitability of hydrocarbons businesses of the future.
As the world migrates from fossil fuels to renewable energy, we
will further maximize this Oil to Chemicals conversion and upgrade all of our fuels to high value petrochemicals
This up-gradation will be implemented in a phased manner over the next decade to meet the rapidly increasing demand for petrochemicals, in
The hydrocarbon business is thus poised for robust value creation and exciting times ahead.
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Oil and Gas Exploration and ProductionDear Shareowners, Your company, along with its joint venture partner BP, continues to optimize its
India upstream business by pursuing integrated development in KG D6 Block
In these gas field developments, we will deploy many advanced technologies to start gas production in 2020 and reaching full production of
Our Gas marketing JV with BP is looking for opportunities to source and distribute gas to Indian consumers including in cities.
Our Coal-Bed
Methane production crossed 1 MMSCMD level last year.
We have started the second phase of CBM development to more than double the current
Your company is proposing a cross-border merger of RHUSA with RIL thereby integrating the US gas resources with Indian market as we have
done with ethane for Petro-chemicals.
I am confident that our participation in the gas economy of India will generate value in the coming
Reliance Foundation Dear Shareholders, I would now like to share the good work being done by our Foundation.
Let us congratulate Nita for
her leadership of the Foundation and her relentless efforts in driving grassroots sports and education in the country.
Our diverse sports
initiatives provide a world class platform to young sportspersons
In recognition of her accomplishments in the field of sports, Nita was awarded the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar by the Honourable
President of India.
Reliance Foundation's rural transformation initiatives are focused on establishing strong market linkages for farmers
and leveraging technology for better reach and impact
The initiatives now reach out to over 13,500 villages in 15 states across the country.
We are now focused on increasing our reach and
expanding the scope of our Foundation to deliver impact to larger sections of India through a combination of partnership and direct action
I hope to share several success stories with all of you in the future as Reliance Foundation continues to make a
difference as the largest
corporate Foundation in India.
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Value Creation RoadmapDear Shareholders,
Last year I had shared with you my vision for value creation in Reliance's Golden Decade
We are laying a robust foundation to realise this vision.
We have already made a lot of progress in the past year
Reliance is making a strategic transition to become a Technology Platform Company
We are focussed on creating multiple platforms that will accelerate our growth and create significant societal value for years to come.
Our
connectivity platform has already made Jio the largest mobile data network in the world.
Through JioGigaFibre we will now build the
home-and-office connectivity platform
A platform that potentially connects 50 million homes.
It will be as big as the mobile connectivity platform
Moreover, it will have a much higher value proposition because the core investments have been made while building the mobility network.
The
third big platform that we are building is New Commerce.
This platform has the potential to redefine retailing in India and become one of
the biggest new growth engines for Reliance in the years to come.
We are also looking at nation-wide platforms in Agriculture, Education and
I am confident that our growth in these consumer businesses, based on asset-light platforms of the future, will be nonlinear and
exponential.
In our hydrocarbon businesses, the largest ever cycle of investment in our world-scale complex projects is
nearly
complete.
This will yield healthy profits for many years to come.
The value-chain integration allows us to create an annuity-like
cash flow with lower risk of cyclical markets.
Reliance was among the first companies globally that adopted an 'Oil to Chemicals' strategy
and manage it as one integrated business.
We have a full plan to further increase the level of integration by adding new chemical chains and
capacity to produce new materials and composites of high value.
This will minimise the impact of renewables and electricity on
transportation fuels.
We have the unique advantage, among global players, of being able to pursue this strategy with physical integration at
one large site.
I am confident that our current business model and planned investments make our hydrocarbon portfolio future-proof
with
sustained earnings growth.
We are committed to strengthening our balance sheet while we pursue growth and realise multiple monetisations.
As
the earnings from our consumer businesses begin to match those from our hydrocarbon businesses, I assure you that the next decade will truly
become a Golden Decade for Reliance.
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ConclusionFriends, Reliance has always been a responsible Corporate Citizen
We know fully that our responsibilities have grown with our opportunities.
We shall discharge them with utmost commitment
Employment generation for all our youth has become an urgent national imperative.
In addition to employing as many as 200,000 people in the
last two years alone, Jio and Retail have created indirect livelihood opportunities for 1 million people across India.
In all our digital
service businesses, data privacy is sacrosanct
Cyber-security is our solemn promise
Our energy and petrochemical businesses follow the philosophy of not only the Green Economy but also the Circular Economy.
Because we care
for the Environment, which is the most precious asset of mankind.
Lastly, ensuring the safety, satisfaction and happiness of our employees
is our Dharma, because, for me, all of them are members of the extended Reliance Family.
Before I conclude, permit me once again to share
with you - and with all my dear countrymen - a dream I have
inherited from my father.
It is the dream to see India become an economic
superpower.
And to see that India becomes a global leader in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
India's prosperity and Reliance's
progress have been closely intertwined in every phase of our journey so far
Which is why, Reliance has become a shining icon of Modern India.
As India starts on its high growth journey to double the size of its
economy by 2025, I assure you that the size of Reliance will more than double in the same period.
And the creation of societal value by
Reliance will be of an even higher order.
Old-timers amongst you will recall that whenever our Founder Dhirubhai Ambani spoke of India,
WHAT WE CAN DO TO BRIGHTEN INDIA'S FUTURE.'
That passion will never subside.
As we kick off our Golden Decade with a flourish, we remind
ourselves of Reliance's unwavering commitment towards India's Rise.
May the God Almighty bless us in our endeavour.
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AcknowledgementsI would like to thank the Central and State Governments, shareholders, investors, suppliers and customers for their
consistent and resolute support.
I thank all my colleagues on the Board for their unanimous support and immense encouragement.
I have
special words to acknowledge the collective efforts of the entire Reliance team, working tirelessly for creating and sustaining a
world-class enterprise.
Thank you.
Mumbai Mukesh D
Ambani
July 5, 2018 Chairman and Managing Director
st Note: This does not purport to be a record of the proceedings of the 41 Annual General
Meeting (Post-IPO) of the Company.
