RIL to invest Rs 1,00,000 cr in India, partnerships key to growth

In a highly anticipated annual general meeting, Reliance Industries’ chairman Mukesh Ambani said the company will invest around Rs 1 lakh crore in India to expand its operations over the next four to five years. It also aims to double operating profit over the same period.

In addition, alliances and partnerships, local and global, will become increasingly important for the company’s growth going forward. However, Ambani did not provide any details on the kind of projects the company, India’s largest private-sector conglomerate, will invest in.

Despite its current economic woes, Ambani expressed confidence that India would become one of the growth engines of the world. Ditto for Reliance. RIL will continue to create value across businesses and aim to outperform global peers, Ambani claimed.

“Partnerships similar to BP will be important for company’s growth; RIL has grown stronger due to expansion of asset base,” he said.

Speaking on the oil and gas sector, Ambani said volatile crude prices and a subdued margin outlook for petroleum products had hindered profit growth in this segment. He, however, said Reliance will continue to reinvest its cash flows in new projects to boost earnings.

He also announced the company’s plans to establish a new gas-cracker plant at its Jamnagar refinery.

The biggest disappointment, however, was the announcement that the KG D6 gas output was estimated to produce just 60 million cubic metres by 2015.

Investors, overall, remained unimpressed after RIL’s general meeting, the 35th in the company’s history, after it stock listing in 1977. The stock is trading higher at Rs 724, up 1.2 percent.