Reliance Trends, the retail chain that offers quality and fashionable clothing at low prices, is chalking out major expansion plans. The apparel arm of Reliance Retail is all set to expand its current base of 16 stores across the country to 155 by 2012 across 90 cities. Arun Sirdeshmukh, Chief Executive Reliance Trends says “You will see now and for the next two years, our growth rate would be far higher than any apparel retailer in the market.” According to senior company officials, with their incredible price offering, Reliance Trends is all set to revolutionize the apparel industry in India.

Conceived nearly two years ago, Reliance Trends’ mission is: to offer the common man quality and fashionable clothing at remarkably low prices. And although the company has had a slow start so far, it now plans to move ahead aggressively. Mr. Sirdeshmukh says that in the last year they have worked hard to create a blueprint for the next three years. From three stores in 2007-08 they moved to 10 in 2008-09 and by March 2010 they will have 21 stores. “Reliance Trends is probably the only format/retailer that has not closed down a single store during the slowdown,” he informs.

The main focus of Reliance Trends is affordability. At every stage of making a garment, they try and save every rupee without compromising on the quality. Right from sourcing raw materials to choosing business partners and designing, pricing is kept in the forefront. The biggest business for Reliance Trends is from the private labels and nearly 60 per cent of revenue comes from the private brands. Besides this Reliance Trends also stocks leading national and international brands.

Among the many exciting offerings from Reliance Trends are First Class jeans at just Rs 199. An anti-wrinkle business suit which costs around Rs 4,500 on an average is priced at Rs 2,499 at Reliance Trends. Among others, Reliance Trends also has a collection of technology clothes. These are fragrant clothes for infant, stain-free trousers, shirts and trousers with in-built moisture management and the like.

Recently, Reliance Trends was awarded the Asia Retail Congress – Retail Marketing Campaign of the year Award. So, with this new growth plan, approach and rapid expansion is Reliance setting new “Trends”.

Source:http://news-views.in/reliance-trends-a-growth-path/

Lured by rising consumer demand and a huge untapped market, organised shoemakers and retailers such as Reliance Footprint and Metro Shoes, Catwalk are scaling up their presence to get a foot in the Rs 11,900 crore retail shoe market in the country.

Reliance Footprint, part of Reliance Retail, plans to spend Rs 400 crore to add 100 outlets across the country in two years to sell branded footwear such as Gel-Kayano of Asics, Adidas and Hush Puppies in its stores.

“The premium segment is growing at the rate of 15%, hence there is tremendous opportunity for eryone,” said Gopalkrishnan Sankar, CEO of Reliance Footprint, which sells mid to high-end products.

The Mukesh Ambani firm, which now runs 16 outlets, recently tied up with premium global brands such as Timberland of the US and Pavers of the UK has planned to scale up till 100 outlets. With the country’s economy continuing to flourish despite the global downturn and population growing younger, richer and more aspirational than ever, India has become one of the most lucrative markets for footwear players.

“India is big opportunity for retail shoe business as well as premium shoe brands. This segment grew by 12% last year, which was an abnormal year due to the global financial crisis.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/retailing/Retailers-scale-up-ops-to-get-foothold/articleshow/5536578.cms

The Dutch Government’s Nodal Investment Agency says that they will support RIL’s for LyondellBasell if the deal goes through. The Netherlands, which is supporting Mukesh Ambani’s $12 billion plus bid for the Rotterdam based pet-chem giant, is the parent country of LyondellBasell.

Bass Pulles, Commissioner of the Dutch Foreign Investment Agency, which facilitates investments in an exclusive interview with ET Now’s Sumit Chaturvedi, in Hague, Netherlands said the government will support RIL’s bid for LyondellBasell. “Since RIL is a foreign company, and so is LyondellBasell, we do offer assistance in the process which surrounds the take over, for instance speeding up immigration procedures or giving a warm shoulder from the ministry”, he said.

Reliance Industries Limited submitted an all-cash non-binding bid to buy a controlling stake in LyondellBasell in 21st of November, 2009. The bid came after LyondellBasell, the third largest petrochemical company in the world, filed for bankruptcy in January, 2009. The deal, if consummated, would facilitate growth of Reliance’s core business. As LyondellBasell has large petrochemical capacities coupled with a good tech portfolio as well as joint ventures in the Middle East, it would help Reliance Industries grow and reach the Western markets.

In December, 2009 Reliance Industries stated that it had no intentions of buying any of the debt from LyondellBasell. The month of January, 2010 witnessed Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries stepping up its offer for the acquisition by offering $13.5 billion instead of the earlier $12 billion.

The Netherlands government support comes as a shot in the arm for Mr. Mukesh Ambani as he prepares to bid for the Rotterdam based LyondellBasell. When asked why the vote of confidence, Pulles said, “They might consider to reinvest again, they might send out positive message to other companies back home or they might inform us on any other strategic developments in their industry.”

The Netherlands is home to global brands like Philips, ING Bank and wants to attract more talent and capital from India. They already have big investments from over 120 odd companies in India such as Infosys and TCS. If Mukesh Ambani does tide over the resistance from some lenders of LyondellBasell, he can be rest assured about support from Dutch Authorities.

News Video :- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDRan0kps6k

Higher natural gas production from the KG D6 fields off the eastern coast of India is likely to buoy revenues of Reliance Industries Ltd, or RIL, in the December quarter though lower margins on petrochemicals and oil refining are expected to temper profit growth, according to analysts tracking India’s most valuable company.
RIL is scheduled to announce its quarterly results on Friday.
A Mint poll of six domestic and foreign brokerages forecast an expected average net profit of Rs3,921 crore for the October-December quarter, an increase of 12% over the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal, and average revenue of Rs51,577.2 crore, a jump of 63.4%.
Eroding revenue: RIL’s Jamnagar refinery. Lower margins on oil refining and petrochemicals are expected to temper the firm’s profit growth. AFP
The poll also pegged RIL’s gross refining margins (GRMs)—or earnings from turning crude oil into a number of high value fuels and products—at nearly $5.7 (Rs260.49) per barrel, way short of the $10 a barrel levels in the same quarter last year.
In a 6 January note to their clients, Mumbai-based Edelweiss Securities Ltd’s analysts Niraj Mansingka, Ruchi Vora and Abhishek Agarwal wrote: “RIL’s earnings will benefit from the ramp-up of KG D6 gas volumes. However, muted refining margin expectations and decline in petrochemical margins will limit results.”
Pointing to the possibility of the Mukesh Ambani-led company reporting the “lowest ever GRMs in the past several quarters” owing to a weak refining environment, Rohit Nagraj, sector analyst for Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt Ltd, wrote in his report the same day: “Petrochemical prices remained stable during the quarter. However, the feedstock prices moved up slightly. Hence, (these) margins are anticipated to be a tad lower sequentially (compared with July-September quarter).”
According to Nagraj, average Krishna-Godavari basin gas volumes, an estimated 45 million cu. m a day (mscmd) this quarter, will add heft to RIL’s profits.
Another analyst with the Indian arm of a foreign brokerage said one of the key things to watch out for was whether RIL’s new 580,000 barrels a day Jamnagar refinery has stabilized its operations or not. “KG D6 gas and the new refinery are assets that are contributing to revenues this year. Not only were these revenue taps not turned on last year, the corresponding quarter last year was also affected by adverse demand conditions in the aftermath of the global meltdown, leading to a base effect.” Base effect refers to an unusual spike or drop in a company’s financials in one quarter due to extraordinary reasons. Year-on-year comparisons in such cases appear much better or worse.
The analyst, who did not want to be named, agreed that it was business as usual for the oil-to-yarn and retail conglomerate, and that much of the “noise surrounding the company has been on account of its acquisition efforts or fund raising exercises”.
Reliance Group has submitted a preliminary, non-binding bid for the bankrupt Dutch petrochemical maker LyondellBasell Industries AF in its largest and most ambitious acquisition attempt. Analysts are watching how far RIL will go to acquire the firm, which is being valued upwards of $13.5 billion by the Street and will need to be integrated in the difficult labour markets of the US and Europe. As of now, its offer is being pushed back by the existing management and secured creditors of LyondellBasell, which could mean that RIL will have to sweeten the bid and raise its offer price.
RIL has raised nearly Rs12,980 crore by selling its treasury stock in three tranches over the last four months, most likely to create a war chest for the LyondellBasell deal.
RIL’s takeover bid comes on the back of a subdued sectoral outlook. Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd’s analysts Harshad Borawake and Milind Bafna in their sector preview report have said that they “expect margin pressure on petrochemicals to continue from likely supply from new Middle East petrochemcial plants”.
RIL could look forward to revenues from KG basin as gas production is expected to be ramped up to 60 mscmd by December and 80 mscmd by March, added Borawake and Bafna.
Gas revenues, however, depend on the outcome of a three-year-old legal battle between RIL and Anil Ambani’s Reliance Natural Resources Ltd. The latter is claiming 28 mscmd of gas at a price 44% cheaper than the government price, citing a family demerger arrangement in 2005. The matter is awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court.

Source:http://www.livemint.com/2010/01/18211608/RIL8217s-Q3-profit-expected.html

Reliance Industries‘ eastern offshore KG-D6 gas has helped fertilizer companies bring down cost of urea production by 18 per cent and has helped save about Rs 4,760 crore in fertilizer subsidy.

According to the Fertilizer Industry Coordination Committee (FICC), the average provisional cost for urea production in 2009 has come down from Rs 13,509 per tonne to Rs 11,084 per tonne after KG-D6 gas replaced costlier alternative fuels like naphtha.

FICC informed Fertilizer Ministry that the energy cost has reduced as a result of use of RIL gas replacing costlier alternative, sources said.

RIL is currently producing about 55 million standard cubic meters per day of gas from its Krishna Godavari basin fields. Of this over 13 mmscmd is currently being supplied to 15 units producing about 19.7 million tonnes a year of urea.

The company has achieved peak production rate of 80 mmscmd but had to scale back the output as its government-nominated customers were not drawing their allocated quota of gas.

Mukesh Ambani, the CMD of Reliance Industries Ltd., received the Penn Engineering Dean’s Medal here in Mumbai, India, on Friday, 8th January 2010. In a ceremony at the Trident Hotel he was honoured with the Dean’s Medal by Eduardo Glandt, Dean of Penn Engineering. The University of Pennsylvania has conferred this award on Mukesh Ambani for his visionary leadership in the application of engineering and technology for the betterment of society and mankind. The award is a testimony to this global visionary; who runs India’s biggest corporate house, Reliance Industries Ltd.

The keynote address for the event was made by Dean Glandt who introduced Mukesh Ambani warmly, in a well attended gathering in the Regal Room of the Trident Hotel. Amidst the attendees were industrialists, celebrities and the Indian media including Kumaramangalam Birla, Anand Mahindra and Sachin Tendulkar. In his speech Mr. Ambani announced the newest project of the Reliance Foundation – a university in India, to be headed by Mrs.Nita Ambani. He also expressed with much passion the requirement for a global paradigm shift to include a focus on real engineering instead of financial engineering in light of the recent economic crisis.

Mr. Mukesh Ambani has come a long way having started his corporate journey in 1981 when he joined his father, late Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani, the founding chairman of Reliance. He initiated Reliance’s vertical integration journey from textiles into polyester fibres and further into petrochemicals, petroleum refining and eventually oil and gas exploration and production. He then led the creation of 51 new, world-class manufacturing facilities encompassing diverse technologies that increased Reliance’s manufacturing capacities manifold.

The Jamnagar Refinery in Gujarat which is now the world’s largest grassroots petroleum refinery was the brainchild of Mukesh Ambani. Dhirubhai’s dream project Reliance Infocomm, which is now one of the largest telecommunications companies in India and has emerged as Reliance Communications Limited was also set up by Mukesh Ambani. He is currently steering Reliance’s development of a pan-India retail network, a transformational initiative connecting, rural and urban India.

In a recent study by the Harvard Business Review, Mukesh Ambani has been recognized as the fifth best CEO of the world in a review, which surveyed a total of 1,999 CEOs of large public traded companies across the globe. In the course of his career he has been conferred as many as 5 awards by NDTV, a leading news channel in India. He has also featured in the survey of ‘Top 50 Most Respected Business Leaders of the World’ conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2002 as well as 2004. At the global level Mukesh Ambani has been felicitated twice by the United States India Business Council. He is also the only Indian CEO to be invited thus far to become a Council Member of World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in July 2007.

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