Reliance, Tata and Adani Group have emerged as the largest government land buyers of the state.

Together they have bought 4,830 hectare land from the state government in the last three years valued at Rs377.97 crore. This fact came to light in a written response given by revenue minister Anandi Patel to Congress MLA from Kalupur, Mohammed Farooq Shaikh.

Patel informed the state assembly that Reliance had been allotted 1,333 hectares of land for its SEZ in Jamnagar in addition to 57 hectare for marine tank farm and 1225 sq. mt for a refinery related project.

Tata Group has been provided 1,476 hectare, which includes 1,031 hectare for its ITproject in Gandhinagar and 445 hectare for much-hyped Nano car project in Ahmedabad. Tata has paid Rs11.35 crore for IT SEZ land; however, they have not paid any money for the prime land given in Sanand for the Nano car project.
Adani Group has been allotted 1,964 hectare of land for SEZ project in Kutch. “The Gujarat government has earned over Rs377.99 crore revenue by way of land allotment to these industrial giants,” the minister stated.

Source:http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_reliance-tata-adani-have-bought-4830-hectare-of-gujarat-govt-land-in-3-years_1360768

Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries Ltd., the owner of the world’s largest fuel-making complex, is in talks with Atlas Energy Inc. to invest in the U.S. natural-gas producer’s shale assets. Reliance is seeking a joint venture with Atlas Energy to develop the U.S. firm’s Marcellus Shale gas operations.

Independent oil and gas company Atlas is looking for a partner for its operations in the booming Marcellus Shale in the eastern United States, which could bring in $1 billion or more for the firm.

Reliance, India’s largest listed firm, is eyeing a deal in trying to gain a foothold outside India, as it attempts to break into new markets and expand its various businesses including refining, oil and gas exploration and petrochemicals.

The Marcellus Shale, which spans parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York, could hold enough natural gas to satisfy U.S. demand for a decade, according to some geologists. “The sentiment is that the U.S. has a wall of gas that can be drilled at very low prices,” said Brian Lively, vice president of exploration and production research at Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. in Houston.

Atlas’ core Marcellus position consists of 266,000 acres largely in southwestern Pennsylvania. Bidders for the Atlas position should include large international integrated oil and gas companies as well as domestic independent oil and gas companies. Reliance Industries would be joining British, French, Japanese and Canadian rivals in investing in U.S. reserves trapped in rocks that until five years ago were considered too hard to be worth drilling.

Reliance Industries has raised about $2 billion selling shares since September and the funds may be used for capital expenditure, Chief Financial Officer Alok Agarwal said in Jan. Reliance had outstanding debt of 700 billion rupees ($15 billion) in cash and cash equivalent of 159.6 billion rupees as of Dec. 31, Mukesh Ambani, CMD, Reliance Industries said in the AGM in January. At the other end Marcellus Shale, Chief Executive Officer Edward Cohen said on a conference call on Feb. 26, “We’ve made clear that we are very alive and receptive to the joint venture situation. We’re well into the process.”

Source:http://news-views.in/reliance-eyes-stake-in-natural-gas-field-in-us/

The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition filed by the income-tax department alleging that Mukesh Ambani group firm Reliance Petroproducts had not revealed relevant information while claiming tax deductions in 2001-02.

A Bench headed by Justice VS Sirpurkar upheld the Gujarat High Court’s that cleared Reliance Petroproducts of all such allegations.

The income-tax department had challenged the High Court ruling that cleared the company of all the charges saying that the assessee had not concealed any income or furnished inaccurate particulars. The High Court had observed that Reliance Petroproducts had duly discharged its responsibilities and thus was not a fit case for imposing penalty of around Rs 11.38 lakh. However, Reliance Petroproducts, while stressing that the department’s plea must be dismissed, contended that its claim for deduction of interest expenditure was bonafide and it had made full disclosures. Reliance said the department had failed to point out what these particulars of income were and how they had been inaccurately furnished by it.

Stating that the impugned order was wrong in holding that no substantial material had been shown to prove concealment, the department said the High Court had erred in holding that the assessee’s claim on expenditure was allowable and thus no penalty for concealment could be levied. Both the Income-Tax Appellate Tribunal and the High Court had dismissed the Revenue’s appeal saying that there was no concealment of income and the books of Reliance were duly audited and even the auditors had not made any adverse remarks.

Source:http://www.financialexpress.com/news/SC-turns-down-taxmen-s-petition-against-Reliance-Petroproducts/592196/

The Reliance Haryana SEZ Ltd (RHSEZ Ltd) has bagged the prestigious “Amity Corporate Excellence Award for Corporate Social Responsibility” on February 26, 2010 at the twelfth Amity International business Summit & Research Conference (International Business Horizon) organized at Noida.

The Corporate Excellence Award for Corporate Social Responsibility received by Reliance Industries Haryana SEZ is a reflection of the humble contribution by RHSEZ in fields of education, health, women empowerment, child care, rural sanitation, protection of environment, investment consultancy and training of rural youths.

Source:http://reliance-news.blogspot.com/2010/03/reliance-haryana-sez-bags-amity.html

The Barabanki Manufacturing Division of Reliance Industries (RIL) bagged runners-up trophy in ‘Chanakya’ jointly organized by All India Management Associaltion (AIMA) and Lucknow Management Association. The management game, Chanakaya was held on 11th and 12th of February 2010 at the Lucknow Campus of Amity University.

Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries team from Barabanki and the other participating teams had to take strategic business decisions and see the impact through AIMA’s indigenously developed software ‘Chanakya’. The philosophy behind the management simulations is “learning by doing”.

‘Chanakya’ is a high value training program and a computer simulated manager’s game, played by teams comprising three to four members each and this year thirteen teams of the corporate world participated in it. The game involves decision making for a virtual company with focus on a particular performance parameter.

The objective of the game is to develop the competitive skills of participants by testing their managerial talents and knack for improvisation and innovation. The game is recognized as the fastest and most cost effective set of techniques in training.

Source:http://reliance-news.blogspot.com/2010/03/reliance-industries-barabanki-team-bags.html

Indian Retail conglomerate, Reliance Retail Limited has launched its first Reliance Jewels outlet in Thane at Korum Mall. This is the seventeenth successful store launch of Reliance Jewels across India and the third in Mumbai. Reliance Jewels is offering a promotional offer of up to 50 percent OFF on gold jewellery making charges and up to 100 percent OFF on diamond jewellery making charges at the Thane store.

Commenting on the launch of the Thane Reliance Jewels, Mr. Bijou Kurien, President and Chief Executive – Reliance Retail said, “It has always been the endeavour of Reliance to provide consumers with a wide range of high quality products at competitive prices. Reliance Jewels is another step in that direction- we offer consumers an unparalleled range of jewellery, backed by the assurance of hallmarked gold and certified diamonds, in an unmatched shopping ambience. We are delighted to bring the Reliance Jewels experience to people residing in Thane. We have received very positive response from our Ghatkopar and Hughes Road customers and are confident that the Reliance Jewels experience will be appreciated by our Thane store customers too.”

Reliance Retail is leaving no stone unturned in tapping the lucrative jewellery retail industry in India. The total business ratio says that after food and apparel, jewellery is the next biggest industry and has got a very large scope and the competition is much lower compared to the other two which is why Reliance Jewels is all set for a major expansion.

The gold jewellery range encompasses Kolkata Filigree, Rajkot minakari jewellery, Kundan from Jaipur, Temple jewellery from Kerala, Jadau from Amritsar and much more. In Diamond jewellery, 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 Industries Limited (RIL) and IMG, the world’s leading sports marketing and management company, announced an equal joint venture to develop, market and manage sports and entertainment in India. The venture, IMG Reliance Pvt. Ltd., will have parallel complementary strategies: to provide and operate world class infrastructure and coaching facilities in the country to unlock India’s sporting potential and; to create and operate major sports and entertainment assets in the country.

A press release from Reliance Industries Ltd. said the senior management teams of the two organizations led by their respective Chairmen Mukesh Ambani and Ted Forstmann had formulated clear ambitions and strategies for the new company. “The idea is to try to begin to make this country much more proficient in sports other than cricket,” Forstmann said in an interview in Mumbai. IMG Reliance Pvt. Ltd. will harness IMG’s international expertise gained in over 50 years in the business of sport, entertainment and celebrity management with RIL’s expertise in the domestic market, strategic planning and flawless execution.

Under the auspices of The Reliance Foundation, the corporate social responsibility initiative of Reliance Industries, state of the art sporting academies will be developed to provide world class coaching and training facilities for Indian sportsmen and sportswomen. The required infrastructure investment will be provided by The Reliance Foundation. IMG Academies, Florida the world’s leading sporting and educational institution which has many alumni who have pursued successful professional sporting careers on the world stage will provide management knowledge and coaching skills transfer to the management and coaching teams of the Academies in India which will be managed by the joint venture.

IMG Reliance Pvt. will use “special-purpose vehicles,” to build sporting infrastructure and will replicate IMG’s facilities in Bradenton, Florida, which have trained athletes, including tennis players Andre Agassi and National Basketball Association player Vince Carter.

“The market is gigantic,” said Forstmann, whose company helped set up the Indian Premier League for the Twenty20 format. “In a country with a middle class growing like India, sports entertainment and media are going to be things that the country is going to want more and more.” He further added that, “The performance of Indian athletes on the national and international stage will improve dramatically with the correct development strategies. The No. 1 sport in the world is soccer. It would be a great thing for this country to have a really competitive national team.”

Mukesh Ambani said development of sports and a sporting culture was a social imperative for India in the 21st century. “World class infrastructure, frugal engineering, technology and scientific coaching are an integral part of development of today’s sporting talent globally. IMG has an enviable track record of leveraging these aspects and identifying, training and developing champion talent across disciplines,” he said.

Mrs. Nita Ambani, Member on the Board, IMG Reliance Pvt. Ltd. added, “I am excited about the comprehensive relationship with IMG which will seek to unlock the potential of young India at a global platform. Reliance Foundation will invest in the infrastructure development of the globally renowned IMG Academies in India. We are committed to undertake grassroots development programme to make a fundamental difference to the lives of millions of youngsters in the country based beyond the big cities.”

In keeping with Fostermann’s belief – “Heroes get created,” IMG and Reliance will begin this year by sponsoring 20 Indian students to train in Florida. The venture aims to produce world-class athletes in golf, tennis, soccer, basketball, and Olympic sports to help India “go win some medals”!

Source:http://news-views.in/ril-and-img-forge-alliance-to-develop-sports-in-india/

If advance tax data is any indicator of corporate profits, fourth quarter is likely to be mixed for India Inc.

Only a few companies like Reliance Industries, Infosys, TCS and Tata Motors have posted substantially higher advance tax payments in Q4FY10 when compared with Q4FY09.

Reliance Industries has paid 7.7 billion rupees ($169 million) as advance tax for the March quarter compared with 3.65 billion rupees a year ago, an income tax department source said on Monday.

Cement maker ACC paid Rs 330 crore, from Rs 340 crore a year ago, the source, who did not wish to be named, added.

State-run Union Bank of India paid Rs 185 crore, from Rs 253 crore a year ago. TCS paid Rs 178 crore, from Rs 53 crore earlier and Ambuja Cement paid Rs 120 crore, from Rs 125 crore a year ago.

Asian Paints paid Rs 60 crore, versus Rs 43 crore earlier, the official said.

Source:http://www.bloombergutv.com/news/latest-business-news-india/46991/reliance-pays-rs-770cr-advance-tax.html

State-owned power utility NTPC Ltd has tripled the volume of natural gas it buys from Reliance Industries at the government-approved price of USD 4.2 per mmBtu, to 1.81 million standard cubic meters a day.

NTPC, which till last month was taking 0.61 mmscmd from RIL’s eastern offshore KG-D6 field, has begun drawing an additional 1.2 mmscmd of gas to boost power generation, sources in know said.

In October, the government had allocated an additional 3.85 mmscmd gas to NTPC. Since NTPC did not want to use the KG-D6 gas at its Kawas and Gandhar power plants in Gujarat that are connected with pipelines ferrying KG-D6 gas from the Andhra coast, a complex swap arrangement was worked out with state-owned gas utility GAIL India.

Under this arrangement, GAIL diverted gas from other sources to NTPC plants and supplied RIL gas to its existing customers.

Source:http://reliance-news.blogspot.com/2010/03/ntpc-trebles-natural-gas-procurement.html

Reliance Jewels has launched a second store in Ahmedbad on 9th March 2010. As per the company release, it is the seventeenth store of Reliance Jewels, the jewelry specialty format of Reliance Retail Ltd (RRL).

The range being offered by this Reliance Jewels outlet includes designs from Gujarat, Punjab and Bengal, besides bridal and temple jewellery. Furthermore, the Karatmeter available at the store allows customers to check the purity of gold, thereby making the process transparent and customer-friendly.

President and Chief Executive – Lifestyle, Mr. Bijou Kurien, said Reliance Jewels will give a special introductory offer for a limited period to its customers at the new store by charging up to Rs 100 a gram less in case of gold jewelry and up to 100% off on diamond jewelry-making charges.

Reliance Jewels, a the jewelry format of RRL., subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, opened its first store in 2007 and now operates 17 stores across India. They seem to focus on store network and roll out and have chosen prime locations in cities such as Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Ludhiana, New Delhi and Mumbai for their outlets thus far.

Reliance Jewels offers Kolkota filigree, Rajkot minakari jewelry, kundan from Jaipur, temple jewelry from Kerala, and jadau from Amritsar in 100 percent BIS Hallmarked gold jewelry and stunning pieces of diamond jewelry. 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.

Source:http://www.reliance-news.com/reliance/reliance-jewels%E2%80%99-second-outlet-in-ahmedabad/