Taking one more step towards realizing its global ambitions, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has cited plans for expanding its Jamnagar facility so as to double its petrochemicals production within the coming years. The Jamnagar phase three expansion project, popularly called as the J-3 mega petrochemicals project, is the latest of the ambitious plans RIL has in store as it looks at advancing its position in the global market. In order to fulfil this ambition, Reliance Industries has approached Italy based insurance and finance group SACE Spa, which has guaranteed a US$ 400 million equivalent loan for the expansion and upgrading of the production capacity of its petrochemical plants.

The expansion plans for Jamnagar facility approximate an investment of US $11 billion. The announcement of this latest undertaking was made at the signing ceremony hosted at SACE’s Headquarters in Rome, Italy. Commenting on the occasion was the CEO of SACE, Alessandro Castellano, who said, “SACE’s guarantee is both a relevant growth catalyst and an important leverage for the competitiveness of Italian exporters, along with quality and price of products. The deal confirms our partnership with a key global player like Reliance Industries and paves the way for a further promotion of trade-related business between Indian and Italian companies, particularly the large number of small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the country.”This deal is the 4thconcluded with Reliance Industries since 2004 and brings to US$1 billion the overall credit facilities backed by SACE for the conglomerate.

The mega-ambitious project will look at setting up of petrochemical units, a gasification plant and refinery off-gas cracker, among others. On realization, this project is likely to fire Reliance’s production graphs and position the conglomerate in an advantageous position. Additionally, SACE will continue its role as the business facilitator in India by making its way into the Indian subcontinent to regulate operations in South Asia.

This deal comes through soon after RIL noted its plans for buying back equity shares to shore up its Share prices. Now termed as the largest every buyback plan in Indian corporate history, RIL’s plans is signalling promise to its shareholders and investors of the fact that the company is will go lengths to retain the integrity of its share price which makes the company India’s most valuable.

The Dhirubhai Ambani memorial, instituted in the name of the founder and ex-chairman of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Dhirubhai Ambani, will be opened to public from February 3rd onwards. Located in the small town of Chorwad in Junagadh district of Gujarat, the memorial, which was inaugurated by the Ambani clan and members belonging to the Reliance family on December 28th(birth anniversary of the Dhirubhai Ambani), will be opened to public viewing in the presence of family matriarch Kokilaben Ambani, wife of Late. Dhirubhai Ambani and Reliance Industries group President ParimalNathwani.

The memorial was inaugurated with much fan-fare on the 80thbirth anniversary of Dhirubhai HirachandAmbani on December 28th 2011 by the Ambani family’s spiritual guru Ramesh BhaiOza. Along with all the members of the Ambani family, 150 members of Reliance group and those associated with the family were also present to induct the ceremonial opening of the memorial.

The memorial has been instituted within the complex where Dhirubhai Ambani spent most of his childhood. It was in a rented section of the bungalow (then called ‘MangarolwaloDelo’) where Dhirubhai Ambani and his family used to live. The patriarch went on to purchase the bungalow in 2002, which is now renamed as ‘DhirubhainoDelo’.

The memorial complex has three sections, comprising a picture gallery, the old residence of Dhirubhai Ambani and an auditorium for screening a short film on Dhirubhai’s life to the visitors of memorial. The original structure of the house has been kept the same while some portion has been converted into a museum of sorts. The founder of Reliance has been immortalised in an array of sepia toned pictures which stand symbolic of his life-journey and that of Reliance. The section of the complex which used to be the residence of the Reliance patriarch has been re-structured to resemble the actual residence from his time.

Dhirubhai Ambani -the founder of Reliance –is well-known for pioneering India’s biggest and most renowned private sector company for nearly forty years. From what could be seen as a modest start as a small time trader to instituting one of the most revered companies in the Indian business quarter, Dhirubhai Ambani’s life journey is that of inspiration. He is credited with having rolled out a business model that companies follow even today in an effort to reach at the top of the ladder of success once held by the Ambani patriarch himself.

Standard & Poor (S&P), a US based financial service company recently released a statement remarking that the long term corporate credit rating on Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL; BBB/Positive/–) has remained unaffected despite the company’s recent plans to buy back its equity shares. If anything, Reliance Industries ambitious plan to buy back its shares at Rs. 870 a share (one of the largest ever buyback programs in Indian corporate history) is quite likely to reflect confidently on the current share price of the conglomerate. This buyback announcement, more than anything, will signal a strong commitment from the company to increase the valuation of its share price with respect to its intrinsic worth. S&P also acclaimed that despite a 25 per cent drop in RIL’s EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation) in the quarter ended December 31st2011, the factor is least likely to affect RIL‘s existing credit rating regardless of many industry speculations about the same.

S&P is of the view that Reliance Industries Limited’s liquidity will continue to hold fort despite the buyback, considering the company’s significant cash and cash equivalent reserves of Rs. 745 billion as on Dec 31st2011. And given the buyback is expected to produce at least Rs. 104 billion in cash outflow, the additional sum will only help mitigate the impact of volatile operating performances in refining and petrochemicals quarter, if any. The S&Ps report cited that the rating on RIL had already factored in these volatile elements, including the challenges the company is facing with respect to its prolific KG-D6 gas block in the Andhra coast.

Reliance Industries present rating of BBB+ is reflective of the fact that the company has adequate capacity to meet its financial commitments. However, adverse economic conditions or changing circumstances could possibly lead to weakening of the capacity of the obligor to meet its financial commitments. Regardless of this, if cynical discrepancies do erupt to hinder Reliance Industries core business’ performances, the support foundation in the form of robust cash reserves will help impede any adversity to a large extent. “We believe RIL’s financial performance will remain strong in the next 12 months, with the ratio of adjusted debt to EBITDA at less than 1.5x. We adjust the ratio for cash and cash equivalent excluding Rs 75 billion, which we assume the company needs for its operations. In our view, RIL’s business strategy, particularly the use of its significant cash balances, would be a key determinant of any future rating action on the company”, stated S&P in its statement.

Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is all set to announce one of its biggest every share buyout programs, which could possibly become one of the biggest such programs in the Indian corporate history. This move to buy back shares comes at a time when RIL is looking to boost its share price which has walked on a receding graph over the last year. However, even in the anticipation of the event, RIL saw an immediate 5% shoot in its share price on Wednesday, increasing shareholder wealth between Rs. 11,950 crore to Rs. 2.54 lakh crore.

A buyback involves repurchase of outstanding shares by a company, either through a tender offer or an open market purchase, usually to off set the decline in value of shares available with the company by reducing the number of outstanding shares. While RIL has not yet specified the quantum of shares it is planning to buy back or a timeline, it has filed a notice with the exchange for its upcoming plans. Many industry analysts speculate that this buyout may just rescue RIL out is diminishing profit graph. According to Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), a company is allowed to repurchase its shares worth up to 10% of its paid-up capital without shareholder approval and 25% with shareholder resolution. RIL’s proposed buy back corpus is estimated to be around Rs. 15,000 crore (without shareholder approval) or Rs.25, 000 crore (with shareholder approval).It is speculated that Reliance will make use of its $12 billion cash and cash equivalent assets to sponsor this buyout program. The last time Reliance Industries pulled off a major buy back plan was back in December 2004 when it repurchased and extinguished 28.69 lakh shares worth Rs. 150 crore.

If this program is to materialize in its absolute terms, it will not only boost RIL’s share price, it will also signal strong growth prospects to investors and promoters of the company, even if it chooses not to spend the entire corpus it has set aside for repurchase.Reliance has been trying to ramp-up the declining output from its prolific KG-D6 gas field, and because the process will take time to show favorable implications on RIL’s tock valuation, within that time, a buyout is being considered as good prospect. Also, if the estimated premium of 10-15% is being considered over current stock prices, the value of RIL shares could trail north in the range of Rs. 850-900 per share.

Despite the best assertions of oil ministry, Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) stands to recover costs it incurred in the development of its much talked about oil and gas acreage – KG-D6 fields, after gathering a majority support from stake holders in the gas field.
Oil ministry and its technical arm Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) have tried to prevent this from happening by stating that Reliance Industries can be penalized for fall in output from KG-D6 blocks which were vehemently noted to contain zealous resource acreage. However, RIL, along with other industry officials, have duly noted that geological constraints and uncertainty cannot possibly be gauged by any operator until they are knee deep in the actual process. KG-D6 failed to generate speculated oil and gas resources but, as per recent findings from a study conducted by RIL and its partner BP Plc, the region around KG-D6 continues to hold much promise as against any other field at present.
And while DGH would have liked to amend the action by enabling a resolution in KG-D6 Management Committee (MC), neither the government nor any state run firm has any stake in operations of KG-D6 fields. The MC takes a decision only if it is backed by parties representing at least 70% stake in the block, along with support from government nominee, if any. And if majority outranks the veto presented by a government nominee, the decision is taken in favor of the majority. Because KG-D6 does not have a government nominee, individual stake holders are the ones to decide the fate of KG-D6 cost recovery issue. At present RIL and Niko have stakes in D6 operations, while BP Plc, which signed a deal with RIL to claim 30% stake in its oil and gas acreage, is yet to formally join the production sharing contract (PSC).
DGH has claimed that operator RIL is at fault for not drilling enough wells but it has failed to overlook the extensive work that has gone into KG-D6 over the years. While output has not lived up to its expected mark, it has shown prospect for growth. Plus, this issue has brought to the shore the lack of government’s trust in oil and gas operators. While discrepancies arising from natural factors cannot be avoided or overlooked, government ought to show consideration for development efforts that go into functioning of a major undertaking as KG-D6.

Reliance Industries has been given a reprieve by the DGH in the KG-D6 basin case. The official Statement from the DGH states that INdian govt cannot stop Reliance Industries not recover cost from D6 basin.

3rd January, 2012: Reliance Industries Limited has divested its interest in ETV Channels to TV18 Broadcast Limited (TV18). RIL announced that Infotel, RIL’s subsidiary has inked a Memorandum of Understanding with TV18 and Network18 Media and Investments Limited. By signing the MOU agreement, Infotel gets preferential access to all content of the above mentioned companies, for distribution through the 4G Network being setup by Infotel.
Infotel is geared up to set a pan India world class 4th Generation Broadband Network. Infotel aims at gaining the topmost position in content distribution through broadband technology. It will cater digital content ranging from entertainment, news, sports, weather, education, and many more genres to increase Broadband usage across the nation.
Reliance Industries Limited has investments of about Rs.2600 crores by its group of companies and holds interests in various ETV channels. A part of these investments will now be divested to TV18 Broadcast Limited. The MOU allows Infotel preferential access to (i) the content of all the media and web properties of Network 18 and its associates and (ii) programming and digital content of all the broadcasting channels of TV18 and its associates on a first right basis as a most preferred customer.
Network18 and TV18 are raising funds for the acquisition of ETV Channels through a Rights Issue. Independent Media Trust, setup for the benefit of RIL will fund the promoters of Network18 and TV18 to enable them to subscribe to the proposed Rights Issue.
Reliance further plans to study the various areas of the Indian Markets which include consumer insights and technological expertise. This will help foster the alliance to its best, which will prove accretive to the shareholders of RIL.
India’s leading TV content provider with nearly 25 channels put together with Infotel promises high quality ‘live TV’ experience to broadband customers. Infotel broadband subscribers will receive value added services from Network18’s web portals and e-commerce operations. The concord between these leading companies will leverage the value of Infotel among stakeholders.
About Reliance Industries Limited: Reliance Industries Limited is the flagship company of the Reliance Group of Companies, India’s largest private sector enterprise. RIL is India’s first private sector company which featured in the Fortune Global 500 list of ‘World’s Largest Corporations’. RIL holds the 119th position amongst the world’s Top 200 companies, in terms of profit. In 2010, Reliance Industries Limited was the second highest ‘Sustainable Value Creator’, for creating the most shareholder value in the world.

Reliance Industries has divested its interests in ETV channel to TV18 broadcast limited. This step comes as Reliance wants to strengthen the foundation before launching its 4G broad band services under the Flagship company Infotel.

Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is making headway in its efforts towards building strong homeland security solutions in India. The energy-to-retail conglomerate is presently in talks with major American defense contractor – Raytheon – to form a joint venture which will look at opportunities for developing homeland security solutions in India and abroad. The talks have reached an advanced stage, as per company representatives, and are likely to materialize into a concrete JV soon.

Raytheon is the fifth largest military contractor in the world and fourth largest in the US.It is also the world’s largest producer of guided missiles. Raytheon is most well known for its weapons and military and commercial electronics core manufacturing capabilities. Through a partnership with India’s largest private sector conglomerate, Raytheon will provide Reliance Industries access to high-end security products and electronics engineering solutions for building a strong homeland security system. In doing so, RIL will have access to advanced resources to innovate and develop key security technologies for India and perhaps other countries as well, while Raytheon will be able to gain access to one of the fastest-growing markets for homeland security solutions.

Reliance Industries’ homeland security and aerospace division is presently being headed by VivekLall. This subsidiary is looking to gather high-end resources in order to develop an advanced security solutions system which is likely to benefit the country a great deal. RIL has also entered into a joint agreement with Siemens AG – a Germany based engineering conglomerate – to develop intelligent electronic security solutions with mutual cooperation. As per the official statement released by RIL, RIL’s subsidiary ‘Reliance Security Solutions’ and Siemens have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop smart security solutions for safe, secure and smarter cities and highways in India. The JV has also been shortlisted by the Maharashtra State government to support an initiative that aims at securing Mumbai city by installing home land security systems, such as video surveillance cameras, command and control centers and data serves across the city.

India’ homeland security industry is currently valued at $8 billion. This figure is expected to grow to $14 billion in the next three years and to $16 billion by 2016. India’s safety and security market is currently valued at around US$ 500 million and expected to grow by more than 30 per cent in the coming years. The video security equipments segment (including CCTV) has already seen a rise of 55% in the last few years and this rate is expected to continue over the coming years as well.

December 28th is an important date for Reliance as it is for India Inc. It marks the birth of one of India’s greatest business leaders, visionaries, opportunist and an entrepreneur – Dhirubhai Hirachand Ambani. In fact, this data is very lucky for India from an economic point-of-view as 2 of the country’s greatest industry leaders were born on this day. Dhirubhai shares his birthday with Ratan Tata, out-going chairman of the Tata group. Ambani was born on December 28, 1932 in this sleepy town near the southwest coast of Gujarat’s Kathiawar peninsula. Today, on his 80th birth anniversary, the Ambani family came together to unveil a memorial at his hometown Chorwad in Gujarat to mark the life and journey of its patriarch and one of India’s most idolized business leaders. The celebrations in Chorwad were marked by the congregation of the entire Ambani family, who came together in much fan fare to celebrate and commemorate the life of Dhirubhai Ambani.

Nearly 150 people associated with the family and Reliance, were present at the inaugural ceremony for the memorial. The memorial is instituted in the house where Dhirubhai Ambani grew up during his early years before moving to Aden in Yemen to work at an oil company. It houses a photo gallery with archive photographs of the Ambani family and Dhirubhai Ambani’s life journey. The original structure of the house has been kept the same while some portion is being converted into a museum of sorts. This memorial with the museum will be thrown open to the public within the next few weeks.

Dhirubhai Ambani -the founder of Reliance – pioneered India’s biggest and most renowned private sector company for nearly four decades. From what could be seen as a modest start as a small time trader to instituting one of the most revered companies in the Indian business quarter, Dhirubhai’s life journey is that of determination, hard work and succeeding against all odds. His aspirations were prophetic and endeavors far-reaching. He is credited with having rolled out a business template that companies today follow in an effort to soar towards the skies. This profit model has been conceived by the man behind Reliance himself. His contribution in wealth creation for the country has been enormous Dhirubhai’s legacy is one which far outreaches the boundaries of this country, one which continues to linger in every aspect of Reliance industries and its people.

On the occasion of the late Dhirubhai Ambani’s 80th birthday on 28th December, the Ambani family plans to reunite. The Ambani siblings, Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani will bury the hatchet in Chorwad, after years of estrangement. They plan to celebrate differently by dedicating a memorial to their late father, a humble school teacher’s son, who won global fame and recognition as the founder of India’s largest private sector enterprise.

The Ambanis will gather at the late patriarch’s native place, Chorwad, in Junagarh district of Gujarat where they will dedicate a memorial to him. The Ambanis were last seen together at Chorwad way back in 1996.

The ancestral village of Chorwad expects great fanfare to greet the Ambani family members. The memorial will be inaugurated by the popular religious leader, Bhagvadacharya Rameshbhai Oza. Kokilaben Ambani, her sons Mukesh and Anil Ambani and daughters Dipti Salgaonkar and Neena Kothari, along with other relatives will be present for the inauguration ceremony. An RIL spokesperson said that the Ambani family also plans to attend a religious ceremony at the Goddess Chorwadi temple on December 27th.

The Dhirubhai H. Ambani Memorial has been built at the same place where the Indian business magnate spent his childhood days. He spent the early days of his life in a rented section of a bungalow, which was then called ‘Mangarolwalo Delo’. In 2002, the Ambanis purchased the place and have now renamed it as ‘Dhirubhaino Delo’.

Mrs. Kokilaben Ambani has founded the memorial as a reminder that the late founder emerged from a modest village background. The memorial will be a reminder of the efforts put in by the senior Ambani to realize his dreams and become nothing short of a legend. The memorial will be segregated in 3 sections: a pictorial gallery, the old family and an auditorium. The pictorial gallery will display the journey of his life through pictures. The old house has been restored to its original look and feel. The auditorium will be used for the screening of a short film on late Dhirubhai Ambani’s life.

The energy rich Krishna-Godavari basin, controlled and developed by Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), may receive a fresh set of investment following a likely approval from the government for further development of the acreage.

Reliance Industries officials had submitted a proposal to the KG-D6 oversight committee which cited development of four additional satellite fields in the in KG-D6 block, namely Dhirubhai-2, 6, 19 and 22 (D-2, D-6, D-19 and D-22) fields. These fields border the currently functional and gas producing fields – D-1 and D-3. It has been estimated that the prospective satellite fields have the potential to generate 10 million cubic meters of gas output per day by the year 2016. This will greatly help shore up the output from the KG block which has seen its output decline over the last 15 months. The KG-D6 oversight committee, which comprises of officials from the oil ministry and its technical arm – the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), is expected to meet tomorrow to deliberate over the approval of the field development plans (FDP).

RIL had initially submitted a FDP in 2008 for development of nine satellite gas discoveries, including D-2, D-4, D-6, D-7, D-8, D-16, D-19, D-22 and D-23, with an estimated capex of $5.6 billion and reserves of 1,708 billion cubic feet (bcf). A more efficient development plan for four of these satellite gas fields was later submitted in 2009. The KG-D6 oversight committee directed RIL to revise the proposal according to new rates and current prices. But in order to avoid potential losses, Reliance Industries modified the plans to restrict spending on the four satellite fields to about $1.529 billion, plus or minus 15 percent.

So far, eighteen discoveries have been made by RIL in the KG basin, located off the east coast of Andhra Pradesh. Many of these finds have cited immense potential for prolific energy development plans. One such field is the D-24 blockor the R-Series gas field on which RIL plans to invest nearly $2 billion so as to produce about 15 mmcmd of gas. The field has gross in-place gas reserves of nearly 1.64 tcf.