INCREDIBLE AMBANI

RELIANCE IS FUELLING INDIA'S FUTURE WITH CONVICTION, INNOVATION, AI, AND RENEWABLES.

- BY NEVIN JOHN

PEOPLE OFTEN ASK Mukesh Ambani, “How does Reliance keep doing so much?” His answer is elaborate, yet grounded in conviction. “We have a formula that is better than caffeine,” he says with a smile.

At the heart of that formula lies one powerful element. “Our own internal conviction that we can do it,” he explains. “We have leaders who handle refinery shutdowns, 5G rollouts, and [groom] teenage kids, all in the same week,” Ambani told the families of Reliance employees during the Diwali celebration at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai. “We don’t say impossible. We just say, give me two weeks and I will make it possible.”

It was Ambani’s conviction that helped an oil refining and petrochemicals company (B2B) transition into a consumer-facing giant. Since the launch of Jio’s telecom services in 2016, he has picked up the pace—recasting Reliance Retail, bringing in global investors in telecom and retail, launching and listing the financial services business, and beginning work on five Giga factories for renewable energy and battery manufacturing. Other projects taking shape include Reliance Intelligence and humanoid robotics. The biggest of the lot, however, is the initial public offering (IPO) of Jio.

It’s no surprise that RIL’s revenue multiplied 14 times in the last 20 years. The conglomerate reported a net profit of ₹69,648 crore in FY25, a three-year CAGR of 4.7%, and net sales of ₹9.6 lakh crore, a growth of 11.50%, according to Capitaline data. Consumer businesses (retail and telecom) contributed over 50% to the company’s total Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) in FY25.