Reliance Industries

Reliance Industries

Personal information
Full name	Reliance Industries
Company type	Public
Founded	(1991-09-05) 1958 (68 year ago) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Reliance Industries Limitedis an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai, Its businesses include energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, entertainment, telecommunications, mass media, and textiles.

Reliance Commercial Corporation was set up in 1958 by Dhirubhai Ambani as a small venture firm trading commodities, especially spices and polyester yarn.[1] In 1965, the partnership ended and Dhirubhai continued the polyester business of the firm.[18] In 1966, Reliance Textiles Industries Pvt. Ltd. was incorporated in Maharashtra. It established a synthetic fabrics mill in the same year at Naroda in Gujarat.[19] On 8 May 1973, it became Reliance Textiles Industries Limited. In 1975, the company expanded its business into textiles, with "Vimal" becoming its major brand in later years. The company held its initial public offering (IPO) in 1977.[20] The issue was over-subscribed by seven times.[21] In 1979, a textiles company Sidhpur Mills was amalgamated with the company.[22] In 1980, the company expanded its polyester yarn business by setting up a Polyester Filament Yarn Plant in Patalganga, Raigad, Maharashtra with financial and technical collaboration with E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., U.S.[19]
In 1985, the name of the company was changed from Reliance Textiles Industries Ltd. to Reliance Industries Ltd.[19] During 1985 to 1992, the company expanded its installed capacity for producing polyester yarn by over 145,000 tonnes per annum.[19] The Hazira petrochemical plant was commissioned in 1991–92.[23] In 1993, Reliance turned to the overseas capital markets for funds through a global depository issue of Reliance Petroleum. In 1996, it became the first private sector company in India to be rated by international credit rating agencies. S&P rated Reliance "BB+, stable outlook, constrained by the sovereign ceiling". Moody's rated "Baa3, Investment grade, constrained by the sovereign ceiling".[24] In 1995/96, the company entered the telecommunications industry through a joint venture with NYNEX, USA, and promoted Reliance Telecom Private Limited in India.[23] In 1998, Reliance took over Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited during privatization of public sector enterprises. In 1998/99, RIL introduced packaged LPG in 15 kg cylinders under the brand name Reliance Gas.[23] The years 1998–2000 saw the construction of the integrated petrochemical complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat,[23] the largest refinery in the world.
In 2001, Reliance Industries Ltd. and Reliance Petroleum Ltd. became India's two largest companies in terms of all major financial parameters.[25] In 2001–02, Reliance Petroleum was merged with Reliance Industries.[20] In 2002, Reliance announced India's biggest gas discovery (at the Krishna Godavari basin) in nearly three decades and one of the largest gas discoveries in the world during 2002. The in-place volume of natural gas was more than 7 trillion cubic feet, equivalent to about 120 crore (1.2 billion) barrels of crude oil. This was the first-ever discovery by an Indian private sector company.[20][non-primary source needed][26] In 2002–03, RIL purchased a majority stake in Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd. (IPCL), India's second largest petrochemicals company, from the government of India,[27] RIL took over IPCL's Vadodara Plants and renamed it as Vadodara Manufacturing Division (VMD).[28][29] IPCL's Nagothane and Dahej manufacturing complexes came under RIL when IPCL was merged with RIL in 2008.[30][31] In 2005 and 2006, the company reorganised its business by demerging its investments in power generation and distribution, financial services and telecommunication services into four separate entities.[32][non-primary source needed] In 2006, Reliance entered the organised retail market in India[33] with the launch of its retail store format under the brand name of 'Reliance Fresh'.[34][35] By the end of 2008, Reliance Retail had close to 600 stores across 57 cities in India.[20][non-primary source needed] [36] In November 2009, Reliance Industries issued 1:1 bonus shares to its shareholders.[37][38] In 2010, Reliance entered the broadband services market with acquisition of Infotel Broadband Services Limited, which was the only successful bidder for pan-India fourth-generation (4G) spectrum auction held by the government of India.[39][40] In the same year, Reliance and BP announced a partnership in the oil and gas business. BP took a 30 per cent stake in 23 oil and gas production sharing contracts that Reliance operates in India, including the KG-D6 block for $7.2 billion.[41] Reliance also formed a 50:50 joint venture with BP for sourcing and marketing of gas in India.[42] In 2017, RIL set up a joint venture with Russian Company Sibur for setting up a Butyl rubber plant in Jamnagar, Gujarat, to be operational by 2018.[43] In 2018, the Commercial Court (England and Wales), hearing a legal case involving Reliance Industries and the Union of India, ruled for the first time that the foreign act of state doctrine applied when issues were being addressed through arbitration, as well as when they are addressed through litigation.[44] In August 2019, Reliance added Fynd[45] primarily for its consumer businesses and mobile phone services in the e-commerce space.[46][47] In December 2022, Reliance Industries Market cap stood at ₹17.59 lakh crore (US$223.78 billion).[48] In the field of generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) technology, Reliance Industries Ltd. and The BharatGPT Group announced in February 2024 that they would launch a large language model (LLM), Hanuman's AI system, in March 2024. The model will work in 11 local languages in four major areas: health, governance, financial services and education.[49] In February 2024, Reliance and The Walt Disney Company announced a deal to merge their streaming and television assets.[50][51] The deal was closed in November 2024, with the Disney Star joint venture having a reported value of $8.5 billion.[52] In October 2024, Reliance entered into an agreement with Nvidia to procure Blackwell chips for its planned data centre in Jamnagar.[53] On 3 June 2025, it was reported that Reliance Industries-owned Jai Ammunition Limited was part of an Indian Army project to supply indigenously designed, developed and produced artillery shells and reduce foreign dependence. As of date, four ammunition variants – including high explosive, smoke and dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) rounds – have been tested for the past two years. The final development-cum-user trials are planned in November 2025, following which mass order could be placed. The shells have been developed under the Development Cum Production Partner (DCPP) programme by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) with two industry partners – Jai Ammunition and Yantra India.

Reliance Industries is a publicly traded company listed on major Indian stock exchanges (BSE/NSE) and internationally. The Ambani family retains significant control, owning around 51% of shares on record. Major subsidiaries including Jio Platforms and Reliance Retail hold substantial equity, while public investors, institutional funds, and global partners also hold stakes, reflecting a broad shareholder base in this Fortune Global 500 company.

Reliance Industries is India’s largest private-sector conglomerate, operating across energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, oil refining, retail, telecommunications, media, and entertainment. Starting from textiles, it built world-scale petrochemical and refining assets and later revolutionized India’s digital and retail markets with Jio and Reliance Retail. Under Mukesh Ambani, the company continues to innovate and diversify into clean energy and digital platforms, aiming to shape future technologies and markets.

Reliance champions the ethos “What is Good for India is Good for Reliance,” focusing on growth, innovation, and national development. Its ideology emphasizes self-reliance, technological adoption, and creating value for stakeholders while driving socio-economic progress. The company invests in sectors critical to India’s future, such as telecom, retail, digital platforms, and green energy, positioning itself as a catalyst for India’s industrial and digital transformation.

• linkedin
• Facebook