The jewellery retail subsidiary of Reliance Retail, Reliance Jewels heightens the feeling of being free with some attractive offers. With a wide range of jewellery, backed by the assurance of hallmarked gold and certified diamonds and fine shopping ambience, now experience freedom from Making Charges of Jewellery with Reliance Jewels.

Reliance Jewels is offering NO MAKING CHARGES on select Diamond jewellery, Kundan, Polki and designer Antique jewellery. To enrich the sense of liberty it is offering 25%- 50% OFF on making charges of Diamond Jewellery and 5%- 20% OFF on Gold Jewellery making charges. This will enable the customers to get the best buy on any kind of jewellery they always craved for. The offer will be valid for a limited period until August 31, 2010.

Reliance Jewels offers the widest range of designs in Gold, Diamond and Bridal jewellery, carefully selected and designed from every corner of the country to suit the customers discerning tastes. Reliance Jewels offers the finest quality of diamonds and the widest range of designs, ranging from daily wear to party wear, from diamonds for weddings as well as to celebrate every special occasion in a woman’s life.

Reliance Retail is leaving no stone unturned in tapping the lucrative jewellery retail industry in India. With a well established position in various positions including Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Ludhiana, New Delhi and Mumbai, it is gearing up to spread its reach across all major cities of India. Reliance Jewels takes pride in claiming that it masters the art of bringing the best designs of 100% BIS certified gold jewellery and stunning pieces of diamond jewellery. The store provides more than 10,000 exclusive variations of jewellery designs including traditional Amritsari jadau, Ruby and emerald collections and displays a huge range of modern and antique designer collections to give world-class experience to its customers.

LONDON — Reliance Industries has resumed drilling of the KGV-D3-W1 exploration well on the KG-DWN-2003/1 (D3) license in the Krishna Godavarai basin offshore eastern India.

The Transocean rig Frontier 534 is drilling the well in a water depth of 1,653 m (5,423 ft), according to partner Hardy Oil & Gas. The target depth of the well, designed to test the hydrocarbon potential of Mio-Pliocene sands, is 3,514 m (11,529 ft) MD.

The KGV-D3-W1 was spudded April 2 by Transocean’s Deepwater Expedition, but had to be suspended at the end of May, at a depth of 2,608 m (8,556 ft) MD, due to an unresolved problem with the rig’s BOP control system.

Reliance Industries plans to reopen all of its fuel stations in the country and is currently selling petrol and diesel at the same rates as state firms, a company statement said on Wednesday. Reliance, which operates the world’s biggest refining complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat, shut down its petrol pumps in 2008 as crude prices surged towards $150 a barrel.

At the time the Indian government subsidized fuel sales by state firms, knocking private retailers out of the market. “If the government announces diesel deregulation then diesel, like petrol, will also be available at market rates. Further to this Reliance will resume operations across all pumps, pan India,” the Reliance statement said. Retail sale of petrol and diesel are again viable since the end of June when the government lifted all controls on petrol and raised administered prices of other fuels including diesel. Reliance owns more than 1,400 fuel stations in India.

The government plans to free diesel prices also, but the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission told Reuters in an interview the government would set diesel rates for the next few months. Essar Oil, the only other private refiner in India, and Reliance had together captured about 17 percent of domestic retail market for diesel and accounted for 10 percent of petrol sales by 2005 before they were forced to shut down their pumps.

“Now, with the deregulation of petrol, there is a level playing field and Reliance petrol will now be sold at the same price as that of the other oil companies,” the statement said.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (Solar Group) and construction company Punj Llyod are among the five companies which have bid for solar power project to be set up in the Parliament House.

“We have received bids from five companies for the solar energy project to be set up in Parliament,” TPS Sidhu, the Chief Executive of Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA), which is executing the project, told PTI here.

Three other companies, which have submitted bids, are Wipro Ecoenergy, Lanco and Gurgaon-based DD Solar23 India.

“We are evaluating the bids and successful bidder will be (for Parliament project) announced within next 10 days,” he said, adding that the project was expected to be completed within next three months.

PEDA, which has been asked by the Centre to implement the solar power project in Parliament, had invited bids for commissioning of power project with a capacity of 80 KW using solar photovoltaic technology and its operation and maintenance for 10 years.

“Out of 80 KW of power generation, 50 KW of power will be fed into grid system and rest will be used for battery back up at the Parliament house annexe,” he said.

The Centre had allocated the solar power project for the Parliament House over four months back to PEDA keeping in view of its expertise in non-conventional and renewable energy resources.

“The main objective of this project is to demonstrate and popularise the renewable and new energy resources for the power generation and it has been awarded under the Special Area Demonstration Programme of the government,” he informed.

Besides setting up solar power generation unit, other components of the project are installing water heating system of 2,000 litres capacity, illumination of the house and setting up a small biogas plant of half a tonne capacity per day for the Kitchen in Parliament.

“The other components of the project will be done in a phased manner,” said Sidhu.

State-owned PEDA is a nodal agency for promotion and development of renewable energy projects including solar, biogas and small hydel projects in Punjab. It is also a nodal agency for facilitating project for carbon credit under Clean Development Mechanism.

NEW DELHI: Government auditor CAG said it has completed auditing the expenditure that Reliance Industries incurred in developing Krishna Godavari basin gas field D6, which was at the centre of an inflated billing controversy.

“The audit is complete at CAG end. We are currently in the final compilation stage after which the report will be sent to the Oil Ministry for comments,” a CAG official said.

CAG, which went into the $ 8.8 bn cost incurred by Reliance in producing gas from the nation’s largest field, had examined and received replies on its audit comments from the Mukesh Ambani-led firm.

“In another 30 days, we plan to send it (the report) to the Petroleum Ministry,” the official said.

When asked if Reliance had fully cooperated with the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in submiting records pertaining to KG-D6 fields, the official said: “They have given, if not 100 per cent, but mostly what we wanted.”

The CAG plans to complete the entire audit process, which will include incorporating oil ministry’s comments on its findings, by November.

“In 3-4 months time, we will be done with the special audit report. Based on the ministry’s comment, CAG will decide the necessity of placing the report in Parliament,” he said.

Since the audit of KG-D6 is not a statutory audit, as is being done in case of public sector firms, the premier auditor would decide based on ministry’s comments on its findings if the report has to be placed in the Parliament.

“Our intention of the audit is to find out if there was any loss of revenue to the government because of any improper increase in capital expenditure in the KG-D6 fields,” he said.

Government is to get between 10 to 90 per cent of the revenue generated from sale of gas over the life of the field after deducting expenses incurred by the operator (Reliance).

“While it took a while to persuade the ministry for the CAG audit, it then took the ministry some time to persuade the companies as this audit was the first of its kind. So the delay of over two years,” he said.

CAG started audit of Krishna Godavari basin D6 field on December 21 last year. It, however, faced some difficulty in accessing new documets it sought after completing the first round of scrutiny. But within a month, RIL complied and the premier auditor made good progress thereafter.

Petroleum Ministry asked CAG to audit the accounts of RIL, which faced allegations of gold-plating gas field costs that has increased four-fold to $8.8 bn.

RIL had on August 17 agreed to an audit by CAG but the nation’s premier auditor could put its house in order for the audit only by December.

CAG’s scope of audit of PSC in respect of the block KG-DWN-98/3 (KG-D6) awarded to RIL, for two financial years – 2006-07 and 2007-08, with access to records of previous years linked to transactions of these years.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) today announced that its subsidiary, Reliance Marcellus II, LLC, has signed definitive transaction agreements to enter into a Marcellus Shale joint venture with United States based Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRZO).

Under the proposed transaction, Reliance will acquire a 60% interest in Marcellus Shale acreage in Central and Northeast Pennsylvania that is currently held in a 50‐50 joint venture between Carrizo and ACP II Marcellus LLC, an affiliate of Avista Capital Partners. Pursuant to the transaction, Reliance will acquire 100% of Avista’s interest and 20% of Carrizo’s interests in the joint venture. Upon completion of the transaction, Reliance and Carrizo will own 60% and 40% interests, respectively, in a newly formed joint venture between the companies.

Reliance will pay a total consideration of $392 million, comprising of $340 million of cash and $52 million of drilling carry obligations. The drilling carry obligations will provide for 75% of Carrizo’s share of development costs over an anticipated two year development program. The joint venture will have approximately 104,400 net acres of undeveloped leasehold in the core area of the Marcellus Shale in Central and Northeast Pennsylvania, of which Reliance’s 60% interest will represent approximately 62,600 net acres. This acreage is expected to support the drilling of approximately 1,000 wells over the next 10 years, with a net resource potential of about 3.4 Tcfe (2.0 Tcfe net to Reliance). The transaction allows for additional growth in the development acreage, at pre‐agreed terms.

Carrizo will serve as the development operator for the joint venture and Reliance has the option to act as a development operator in certain regions in the coming years as part of the joint venture. The transaction is anticipated to close by mid‐September 2010. Commenting on the joint venture, Mr. Walter Van de Vijver, President, International E&P Business, Reliance Industries said, “Reliance is excited about the opportunity to further expand presence in the Marcellus Shale in the United States. We are pleased to establish a long‐term partnership with Carrizo, which has demonstrated operating expertise in the shale plays. The proposed joint venture will supplement strengths achieved through our recent joint ventures and further expands our footprint in North American shale gas operations.”
Jefferies & Company, Inc. acted as lead financial advisor and Vinson & Elkins LLP acted as legal counsel to Reliance. BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank provided strategic advise to RIL in respect of this investment.

Mukesh Ambani has joined the race to buy the assets of the British Petroleum (BP) Company in Tanzania and three other African countries.

International industry sources said yesterday that Mr Ambani’s two firms, Reliance and Essar, had offered between $400 million (about Sh560 billion) and $500 million (Sh700 billion) for each of the BP Africa’s assets in Tanzania, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia.

Should the bid succeed, it will consolidate the influence of the world’s fourth richest man in the local fuel market since Mr Ambani already does business in the country through Gulf Africa Petroleum Corp (Gapco). The acquisitions are bound to have far-reaching regional ramifications since Gapco also does business in Kenya and Uganda.

About half a dozen firms, including Libya’s National Oil Corporation, have also expressed interest in buying the BP assets in the five countries. Kenya’s Kenol Kobil had also said it was keen to acquire the assets after BP announced early this year that it was quitting some of its African operations to concentrate only on a handful of markets.

The Tanzanian Government, which holds a 50 per cent stake in BP Tanzania, had also declared that it wished to acquire the oil giant’s business in the country. There have also been reports that Tanzania was considering teaming up with Zambia and Malawi in a joint acquisition, since the business would be a strategic investment to ensure reliable stocks of fuel in the three countries.

Yesterday, Energy and Minerals minister William Ngeleja said though the government had expressed interest in acquiring the business, BP Africa had not responded. He said that as a key shareholder, the government would have to be consulted before the BP assets in Tanzania are sold.

“We are still waiting for their offer. Despite having said they want to sell their shares, they have not yet communicated with us officially,” Mr Ngeleja told The Citizen by phone from his Sengerema constituency, in Mwanza Region.

Last March, Mr Ngeleja announced that buying the BP Africa stake in BP Tanzania would be one of the government’s business ventures. He also said that even if BP found another strategic investor, the transaction would not go on without the government’s approval. “No new investor will come aboard without our approval. This is according to the partnership deal that we have sealed,” he said.

Although the BP Africa asset sale was announced before the company’s oil leak disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that has cost it billions of dollars, there were no reports of the proceeds being used to help pay damages arising from the debacle in the United States.

The assets BP is selling include retail outlets, terminals and aviation fuel stations. According to industry sources, Reliance may be looking at supplying gas oil, gasoline and jet fuel to the East African markets from its twin refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat. Currently, the company is the supplier of oil to Gapco, which also owns retail outlets in Uganda and Kenya.

Sectoral experts say the acquisition of the BP assets would give a company a ready market for auto and aviation fuel with a scope for further expansion into neighbouring high growth countries. Besides selling fuel, lubricants and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), BP is the largest aviation fuel supplier in Tanzania, with about 70 per cent market share. BP Tanzania has for a long time held a 35 per cent market share in both the retail and service stations.

According to the blueprint prepared by the ministry earlier this week, Nita Ambani, wife of Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani and co-owner of Mumbai Indians; Priyanka Vadra, daughter of Congress president Sonia Gandhi; Supriya Sule, member of Parliament (MP) and daughter of agriculture minister Sharad Pawar; and M. Kanimozhi, MP and daughter of Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi; will be approached for key roles in “Saakshar Bharat”, which will have a specific focus on women. All of them said they have not been approached directly so far.

They would be requested to campaign for the mission, which was launched in September by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The names of the mission’s ambassadors are likely to be announced on 8 September, International Literacy Day.

Saakshar Bharat, aims to make 70 million adults (60 million being women) literate in three years and will be implemented in 365 of the country’s 619 districts. While India’s average overall literacy rate is 65.3%, for females it’s 54.28%. In the targeted districts, female literacy is less than 50%. The scheme has already been rolled out in 167 districts in the first week of April and is expected to cost Rs6,000 crore.

Nita Ambani’s office declined to comment. However, the ministry appears to be optimistic.

“We have zeroed in on these icons because we believe that this scheme will be successful if individuals who have sufficiently high profile as well as are committed to the cause are nominated as Saakshar ambassadors,” said a senior ministry official requesting anonymity. The official also said that the ministry wants Nita Ambani and Vadra to be ambassadors at the national level, others will be approached to be goodwill ambassadors at the state level. Some sports personalities will also be roped in later.

They will be expected to pro-actively participate in mass mobilization, undertake visits to some villages to influence teachers and learners, and help motivate private firms to contribute to the programme under their corporate social responsibility schemes. The ministry note points out that Nita Ambani can be “very effective in promoting the private sector initiative and mobilization of resources” for the adult literacy mission.

Reliance Industries owned RIL-Infotel, which is the pan-India winner of broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum, has started trials of WiMax service as per industry sources.

Mukesh Ambani’s RIL-Infotel has installed, as per the source, five WiMax base station in which three are from Alvarion and two are from Samsung. The company is checking interoperability among various BTSs and devices along with factors that hold key to a business.

Infotel won BWA spectrum in all 22 telecom circles across the country for a whopping Rs 12,847.77 crore. On the same day RIL had announced to acquire 95 per cent stake in the company.

The entry of Mukesh Ambani into telecom will create death knell for several players. The mobile industry is yet to recover from shocks following the implementation of the per second billing concept. Mukesh Ambani, when launched Reliance Infocomm, was the first to take on Vodafone and Bharti Airtel with cost effective schemes. Mahendra Nahata created history when HFCL won several mobile circles when the telecom industry was opened up for private players in mid 1990s. But Nahatas could not complete their mission. Mukesh Ambani, who settled his issues with brother Anil Ambani, can now enter telecom space and is looking for buying out operators.

The success of WiMax trials being run by Reliance-Infotel will be a big blow to Qualcomm, the evangelist of TD LTE technology, which is expected to make foray into global market by late 2012 or early 2013.

According to WiMax Forum, there are more than 300 WiMax devices of all types like datacards, Indoor CPE, WiMax Hand Sets etc, already certified by it for use in more than 540 mobile WiMax networks in 140 countries. There are more addition expected by WiMax Forum to this existing range of devices.

Source:http://news-views.in/mukesh-ambani-back-with-a-bang/

Reliance Industries remain on top of the list when it comes to being socially responsible or active. This time again they have hit it right with the United Nations naming Reliance Industries Chief Mukesh Ambani to a key advocacy group on Millennium Development Goals. As per the reports, this is an achievement for the corporate as it will increase its stature on the global front. According to the sources, Mukesh Ambani is the only Indian to be part of the MDG advocacy group along with other eminent personalities on board including Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus and philanthropist Ted Turner. The mandate of this Millennium Development Goals advocacy group includes finding various ways to fight socio-economic evils such as poverty which is a blazing issue these days. As per the sources, Mukesh Ambani will be in charge of global partnership for development which will include formulation of an open, rule bases, non discriminatory and predictable financial and trading system.

According to the United Nations representative, Mukesh Ambani, the top Indian industrialist will also look at the special needs of the least developed countries of the world as well as other landlocked developing countries along with other small islands and developing states. As per the sources, the Millennium Development Goals are eight international goals which at least 23 global organizations and 192 United Nations member states have agreed to achieve by the tear 2015. All these goals are developmental goals and will work for the benefit of the underprivileged sections of the society worldwide.

This golden opportunity will also strengthen the presence of Reliance Industries globally. Reliance Chief Mukesh Ambani feels proud to be associated with this noble cause which includes reducing poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics like AIDS and developing a global partnership for development. According to the world body, this MDG advocacy group will support the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in mobilizing global action and building political will. To set this initiative rolling, the first task of the advocacy group is the preparation for the MDG Summit which will be held in September this year and this Summit can be seen as a turning point in the collective effort to achieve the set goals by 2015.

The elder of the two Ambani siblings, Mukesh is also the member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry and the Board of Governors of the National Council of Applied Economic Research. Not just on the national front, Mukesh Ambani is also active in the international scene. He also holds the position of the Vice Chairman of The World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Source:http://news-views.in/un-names-mukesh-ambani-in-mdg-advocacy-group/