Billionaire Mukesh Ambani on Thursday announced big plans for green energy – including solar plants – Reliance Retail’s expansion and introduction of JioPhone Next, among others. Mr Ambani unveiled these projects while addressing Reliance Industries’ (RIL) shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) in Mumbai on Thursday.    

Mr Ambani, the chairman and managing director of RIL, announced a Rs 75,000-crore investment in setting up four giga factories to make solar photovoltaic cells, green hydrogen, batteries and fuel cells over the next three years. He also added that RIL would set up 100 gw of solar power generating capacity, mostly through rooftop installations and decentralised operations in villages. 

RIL’s retailing arm Reliance Retail would grow at least three times in the next three to five years, Mr Ambani said. He added that Reliance Retail continued to be among the fastest-growing retailers globally and that the company aimed to be among the top-ten retailers of the world. 

In the next three years, Reliance Retail is looking to create employment opportunities for over 10 lakh people and enable the livelihoods for many more. 

Reliance Retail also planned to acquire businesses to heighten its offers, sharpen its omni-channel capabilities and drive operating efficiencies as it had recently acquired digital platforms such as Netmeds, Urban Ladder and Zivame, Mr Ambani added. The company is planning to onboard over 1 crore merchant partners over the next three years on its e-commerce venture JioMart. 

A major highlight of the AGM was the announcement of JioPhone Next, a 4G smartphone co-developed in partnership with American technology giant Google. Mr Ambani also announced a partnership with Google for the latter’s cloud services to power Jio’s 5G solutions.  

Under the Jio Platforms, Mr Ambani said that the company was testing a full new commerce solution in partnership with social media giant Facebook. He added that the company had operationalised the Jio-Azure Cloud Centres of 10-mw capacity in partnership with Microsoft.