At AGM, Mukesh Ambani throws light on succession and building three mini-conglomerates within Reliance

In his address to the Reliance Industries (RIL) shareholders on Friday, industrialist Mukesh Ambani said RIL's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) will double in the next five years--- which means the conglomerate will cross ₹4 lakh crore in EBITDA by 2031. The senior Ambani's confidence stems from the fact that RIL doubled its EBITDA over the last five years to ₹207,911 crore in FY26 with the expansion of a new set of businesses--- Jio Platforms (JPL) and Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL).

At the AGM, he detailed another set of new businesses that will reshape RIL into a cluster of three mini-conglomerates, aligning with the succession planning in the Ambani family. In addition, these conglomerates have a broader plan to sell their products and services in overseas markets.

Akash Ambani, Managing Director of JPL, which filed its DRHP for an IPO, has started work on building the next asset in artificial intelligence (AI), named Reliance Intelligence. The new company, floated last year under parent RIL, will pursue Ambani's AI ambition in India while also looking for opportunities in other parts of the world. The company has alliances with global giants like Google, Meta, and Nvidia. 

"AI is becoming a multi-trillion-dollar business globally. Reliance Intelligence will lead this business in India. The infrastructure for it is being built at breakneck speed, and it will fully operationalise over the next couple of years," said Ambani.

Together with JPL, the AI company will form the tech and digital mini-conglomerate inside RIL, which Ambani called "the soul" for the next generation.

Ambani's daughter Isha has been tasked with building the other new business--- Reliance Consumer Products (RCPL). The FMCG firm, which crossed revenue of ₹22,000 crore in just over three years of operations, targets revenue of ₹1 lakh crore by FY30.

"RCPL’s near-term ambition is to reach ₹1 lakh crore in revenue by FY30. Our long-term ambition is to become one of India’s largest FMCG companies, with a global platform to match," said Isha at the AGM. Isha is in charge of RCPL's growth, along with the business growth of RRVL and its export ambitions.

The third mini-conglomerate will be energy--- a blend of fossil fuels and renewables. The youngest son, Anant Ambani, is heading the business as director. The fossil fuel business includes two large petroleum refineries, petrochemical plants and oil and gas production assets in the KG Basin. Ambani aims to reduce the carbon footprint of the petroleum and chemicals businesses with credits from solar and wind energy production and battery storage manufacturing.

RIL is building a green energy Giga Complex in Jamnagar, Gujarat, on a massive 5,000-acre site that will house multiple gigafactories for manufacturing solar PV cells, advanced batteries, fuel cells and green hydrogen.

The New Energy business has entered the phase of accelerated commissioning and early revenues, said Ambani. "The integrated solar manufacturing and our advanced battery platform will achieve one of the world’s lowest costs of RTC green power. It will also enable the world’s most competitive green hydrogen and green chemicals ecosystem," he added.

Ambani said Isha, Akash and Anant are aggressively expanding existing businesses while laying the foundation for new ventures. He foresees that the new businesses will create opportunities to grow globally. He also outlined an export plan. He said, "Reliance aims to become an anchor institution for developing a globally competitive, multi-sector export hub, with a target to enable $125-150 billion in exports by 2032."