Reliance Industries of Mukesh Ambani aims to be among world's top 20 companies; enter clean energy biz

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries on Saturday celebrated 40 years of group's existence and 85th birth anniversary of its founder Dhirubhai Ambani. RIL Chairman hinted at making Reliance the leading provider of renewable energy and to take the company among top 20 companies globally. Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, who spoke at the gala event, paid tributes to Reliance Industries founder Dhirubhai Ambani.

"Dhirubhai was not a beneficiary of the wealth which was acquired by many during our independence of 1947. Dhirubhai had no such luxury... he was not the third or fourth or fifth generation businessman He was the first generation, the first generation that grew to be the first. That is the rarity of the man I call Dhirubhai Ambani," Amitabh Bachchan recalled.

"I believe opportunities did not invite Dhirubhai to his dreams. His dreams invented those opportunities... A phenomenon called Dhirubhai Ambani could have happened only in India." Bachchan said.

Remembering his father's legacy on company's 40th anniversary Mukesh Ambani said, "It is because of him that Reliance has grown - from 1 employee to over 2,50,000 employees; from initial investment of Rs 1000 to a company of over Rs 6 lakh crore, and from operations in only one city to 28,000 cities and towns, and over four lakh villages in India and across the world."

"Can Reliance be among the top 20 companies in the world? Yes we can... and yes we will," he said. Ambani said in the coming decades, the world will see a transition from fossil fuels to clean, green and renewable energy sources.

"Can Reliance become a leading provider of clean and affordable energy to India? Yes we can... and yes we will," he said. Ambani said the world will invent new materials that will revolutionize how we manufacture and produce things and improve the quality of life of every human being.

The glittering function attended by more than 50,000 staff and families of Reliance Industries Limited and its group companies. The event, which took place at Reliance Corporate Park in Navi Mumbai, was beamed to around 2,00,000 employees and their families live via video conferencing in more than 1000 locations across the country including manufacturing sites, retail stores, Jio Points etc.

Ambani said, "Today, Reliance is a global leader in energy and materials, where operating safely is an obsession. With Jio and retail where Reliance has established a leadership position in India, we are customer obsessed."
"As we enter our golden decade, we at Reliance are in a unique position to accomplish what very few companies in the world can even dream of," he said.

Ambani said the most important lessons he learnt from his father was courage. "Nobody has ever achieved anything big, in business or in any other walks of life, without courage. With courage, with self-belief and the can-do spirit you can overcome any adversity," he said.

Bachchan recalled that Dhirubhai had sent Anil Ambani to help him financially emerge out of the crisis, which he had politely refused. "The money which Dhirubhai was offering me could have help me come out of the crisis in a jiffy. However, I politely refused his offer and slowly by God's grace started to get work again which helped clear my debts," Bachchan said.

"Later, when I met him again at an event at his house, he called me and declared in front of his industrialist friends that 'this boy had fallen down but got up on his own. I respect him for that'. These words of his were much more valuable to me than any amount of wealth that he would have given," Bachchan added.