RIL's consolidated revenue reaches ₹540,000 crore: Key financial highlights

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)'s 44th annual general meeting (AGM) took place on Thursday. Some major announcements were made during the AGM. The meeting wa held virtually for a second consecutive time due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The meeting began with the chairman and managing director, Mukesh Ambani, welcoming all the stakeholders and asking to observe two minutes of silence for employees and other stakeholders of the Reliance group, who suffered the brunt of the virus and lost their lives.

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The chairman during the AGM highlighted that despite the challenging environment due to the pandemic, the Reliance industries managed to be profitable in all quarters. "Even in a challenging environment, RIL’s performance continued to be outstanding," Ambani said.

Here's a look at the financials of Reliance:

The conglomerate achieved a net debt-free balance sheet much ahead of its target date of March 2021, a promise made by the chairman two years ago.

The consolidated revenue of the RIL amounted to ₹540,000 crore, with consolidated (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) EBITDA of ₹98,000 crore, almost 50 per cent of the EBITDA was contributed by consumer business, Ambani noted adding that most of the business is a decade old and Jio is five years old.

The chairman said that as India's largest enterprise, RIL's contribution to the economy remains unmatched. He added that the company makes up for around 6.8 per cent of the country's merchandise exports. He said Reliance contributes to the creation of 75,000 new jobs and large-scale employment opportunities are currently the need of the hour for the country. Reliance paid ₹21,044 crore of customs and excise, ₹85, 306 crore of GST and VAT and ₹3,213 crore of income tax, the highest in the country.

RIL also raised the largest ever capital by any company in a year globally. The company raised $44.4 billion in a year. "This capital raise is a strong vote of confidence by global investors in India’s growth potential," the chairman said.

RIL gave the most successful and largest rights issue ever by an Indian company. The retail shareholders of the company made four times return in just one year on their rights shares.

Speaking of Reliance Jio, Ambani informed during the AGM that the business added over 37 million subscribers during the year. Jio now serves over 425 million consumers with revenue market leadership in 19 of 22 circles. Jio is today the second largest mobile data carrier in the world, which is a nearly 45 percent growth in data consumption in a year.

Reliance Retail, the largest retail chain in the country continues to be the undisputed leader in organized retailing, Ambani said adding that it is more than six times the next competitor in the market. "We are by far the leader in each category — grocery, electronics and apparel," Ambani added.

Besides this, the chairman and MD of RIL spoke about the partnership with Saudi Aramco for the new O2C business and welcomed H.E. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, chairman of Saudi Aramco and governor of PIF in the board of Reliance Industries as an independent director.