Last Updated on Sep 22, 2021 by Aradhana Gotur
Jio, JioSaavn, Reliance Digital, Jio Mart, CNBC TV18, Colors, History TV 18 and the list goes on. What do these have in common? They’re all part of Reliance Industries Ltd, the corporate giant that has a legacy of over 70 yrs. Let us take a look at 15 interesting facts about the company.
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Fact No. 1: Dhirubhai Ambani worked as a petrol pump attendant, while he was in Yemen
Dhirubhai Ambani’s father was a teacher and his family didn’t own a lot of property or land. But Dhirubhai was determined to start his own business, which drove him to India in 1958. Here, he started a textile business “Majin” along with his cousin Champaklal. Majin used to export goods like spices and rayon to Yemen and import polyester.
Fact No. 2: Only Vimal was a brand of Reliance Textile Industries
In 1966, Dhirubhai Ambani’s elder brother Ramnikbhai helped him set up the Reliance Textile Industries mill at Naroda. In turn, Dhirubhai Ambani named the fabric after Ramnikbhai’s son, Vimal Ambani, as a way to express gratitude.
Fact No. 3: The first Indian company to issue an IPO
In 1977, Reliance Textile Industries created history by introducing equity culture in India. The company announced its IPO at a time when even SEBI was not formed. The IPO was oversubscribed by 7 times. Eventually, people started believing in Reliance and invested in the company.
Fact No. 4: They placed India on the Global Refining Map
Reliance Industries entered the Petroleum business in the 1990s. They built the world’s largest oil refinery at Jamnagar, a refining capacity of 12.40 lakh barrels per day. That’s huge! But with this massive refinery, they also became the cause of pollution, surrounding Jamnagar.
Well, Ambani’s had their own way to fight it. They built Asia’s largest mango orchard named Dhirubhai Ambani Lakhibagh Amrayee. The orchard has around 1.3 lakh trees responsible for the growth of about 200 species of mango over 600 acres of land. Isn’t it a man-made wonder?
Fact No. 5: Reliance revolutionized the telecom industry
In 2002, Reliance not only made cell phones affordable to the masses but also made incoming calls free. This boosted the Indian telecom industry. Imagine, if you were charged to pick up a call today, how many calls would you decline or maybe even block?
Fact No. 6: Put India on Fortune 500 list for the first time
In 2004, Reliance emerged as the first and the only private Indian organization that made it to the Fortune Global 500 list. It is also the first private sector company to be rated by international credit rating agencies including Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s.
Fact No. 7: The split of Ambanis affected the Indian financial market
After the demise of Mr Dhirubhai Ambani in 2002, the relationship between both his sons went awry. The split that happened in 2005, saw Mukesh ending up with the core energy business and Anil with the telecom business, financial services, and power arms.
Their individual businesses had grown so big that their conflict started affecting the Indian financial markets. The then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had to urge the Ambani brothers to settle their dispute soon in the interest of the nation and its markets.
Fact No. 8: Reliance disrupted the Indian mobile communications industry again
Infotel, which is now called Jio, was introduced on 5th Sept 2016. The company had 1.6 cr subscribers in just a month, 5 cr in 83 days, and over 10 cr by February 2017. That’s the fastest adoption of a network provider ever.
Fact No. 9: Reliance Jio indirectly helped T-Series
Thanks to Reliance Jio’s high-speed free data, T-Series became the most subscribed YouTube channel on 27th March 2019. With the 3-mth introductory offer of unlimited internet, many viewers started watching Bollywood albums of T-Series on YouTube and also subscribed to the channel. This helped T-Series beat PewDiePie that adorned the crown of the most subscribed channel.
Fact No. 10: Jio brought India on top of the mobile data consumption list
As per the data consumption reports of 2019, Indians are consuming mobile data at an average rate of 11.2 GB per month. That too, with just 45% penetration in the market.
Fact No. 11: They own the largest TV network in India – Network 18
Reliance has a TV network with almost every kind of channel under their belt. It ranges from news, sports, entertainment, music, and history. They even own magazines like Forbes India, Overdrive, and Better photography.
Fact No. 12: First Indian company to cross Rs. 10 lakh cr in market capitalization in 2019
Today, Reliance has a market cap of more than Rs. 14.99 cr. Its weightage in the Nifty index grew from around 5% in September 2016 to nearly 14.90% in September 2020, which is almost 3 times in 4 yrs.
Fact No. 13: They are in almost every industry in India
Right from retail, electronics, e-commerce, oil and gas, media, healthcare, online education, wallets and payments, video conferencing, telecom, music streaming, Reliance competes with companies of almost every sector in India.
Fact No. 14: Reliance continues to be India’s largest exporter
The company is ranked 96th on the Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s biggest corporations as of 2020. They account for 8% of India’s total merchandise exports with a value of Rs 1,47,755 cr and has access to markets in 108 countries. 5% of the Indian government’s total revenue comes from Reliance’s customs and excise duty. The company is also the highest income taxpayer in the private sector in India.
Fact No. 15: Reliance Retail completed a fundraising event of Rs 47,000 cr in just 2 mth
Reliance Retail raised Rs 47,265 cr on 19 November, 2020 by selling a 10.09% stake to investors such as Silver Lake Partners, KKR, ADIA, and others.
