All eyes are set on the Annual General Meeting, the annual shareholder meeting of Reliance Industries, an event that has seen Chairman Mukesh Ambani make huge announcements over the past few years.
At a time when the business of most companies was hit due to the pandemic and the subsequent three-month lockdown, Reliance faced the opposite, with Jio Platforms raising over Rs 1.18 billion during the quarter, as well as a rights issue where it raised over Rs 53,000 crore, leading to Reliance Industries claiming that they had become net debt free in Q1 of FY21. In addition, it announced its joint venture with BP.
This year, investors are expecting commentary Reliance’s digital path going forward, with all of its digital assets under Jio Platforms.
For its virtual AGM, it also set up Chatbot, which will handle queries from all stakeholders. The WhatsApp chatbot is on 7977111111.
With a slew of things lined up for Reliance, here’s what one can expect from the AGM.
Here’s what you can expect from the AGM today:
> Financial services: Source-based reports point to Reliance announcing its financial services venture on Wednesday, which could include insurance broking and mutual fund products. A report in Mint stated that these non-banking services will be added first. Jio Money, its digital payments app, is expected to be one of its products.
Jio Payments Bank, Jio’s joint venture with State Bank of India is yet to be formally launched.
> Aramco stake sale: In its last AGM, Reliance had announced that Saudi Aramco would be buying upto a 20% stake in the Oil to Chemicals division in its last AGM. While Reliance has begun the process and has said that talks are in an advanced stage, the oil business took a beating during the pandemic as crude oil prices sunk to record lows.
> Reliance Retail: Analysts expect the focus to shift to Reliance Retail, with Jio Platforms’ stake sale fairly through (25.24% stake in Jio Platforms has been sold so far). Now, reports say that while Reliance is already the largest offline retail company in India, RIL may train its guns on Retail, which reports say may see an IPO soon. An update may also be expected on Reliance’s acquisition of Kishore Biyani’s Future Group, which will add an additional 1,500 stores to Reliance Retail’s network of stores.
> JioMart: With its tie-up with Facebook inked for JioMart’s integration with WhatsApp for Business, eyes will be on the way forward for the retail business.
In addition, Economic Times reported on Wednesday that Reliance is looking at expanding JioMart to include fashion, consumer electronics and smartphones by this year’s festival season, and be a competitor to Amazon and Flipkart. The report added that Jio is looking at a hybrid model which will allow it to make deliveries fastest, not just in groceries but in other spheres as well.
> Asset monetisation: An update can be expected on RIL’s telecom asset monetisation, and it is already in talks to sell a stake in InvIT-Jio Digital Fibre. Its tower assets have already been sold to three companies, and Reliance is reportedly in talks to sell its stake in the Jio Optic Fibre investment trust.
> Jio Fiber: An update can be expected on Jio Fiber, which was launched in September last year. Reliance is expected to announce its plans for a wide rollout of Jio Fiber, as well as subscriber addition and revenue. Jio had said in its annual report that it had one million customers.
Where to watch the AGM: