Mukesh Ambani The Unstoppable

Ril bounces back to the no.1 position after seven years, thanks to Jio and Petchem expansion.

- Nevin John

While addressing shareholders in July, Mukesh Ambani portrayed the present era as the “Golden Decade of Reliance”. His reasons – telecom start-up Reliance Jio posted profit in first year of commercial operations; earnings of the petrochemicals vertical grew to the size of Reliance Industries’ (RIL’s) biggest business, refining; and cash flow reached a level where the company can clear its net debt of 1.8 lakh crore in less than three years.

RIL recorded a 30.5 per cent rise in consolidated revenue to 4,30,731 crore in 2017/18, thanks to on streaming of greenfield petrochemicals projects at Jamnagar and rise in prices of refined petroleum products. The net profit rose 20.6 per cent to 36,075 crore, largely because of high gross refining margins(GRM) of $11.6 a barrel. RIL became the second $100-billion company in July this year, following TCS. The average market capitalisation of the petroleum giant was 6.27 lakh crore in the October 2017 to September 2018 period, higher than that of TCS.

The “Golden Decade” has not come without challenges. Till a few years ago, Ambani’s plan to enter digital services was taken lightly by telecom czars. The incumbents – Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea – were well placed and enjoying fat margins, advancing their operations to every nook and corner of the country at a fast clip.