After Elon Musk’s Success in EV market Is Mukesh Ambani next in line to invest in renewable energy?
According to a company release to the National Stock Exchange of India, Reliance Industries, a conglomerate headed by Asia’s richest businessman, Mukesh Ambani, has inked an MoU with the government of Gujarat state to spend 5.9 trillion rupees ($80 billion) in green projects.
If the investments are implemented, the western state will attain net-zero carbon emissions by 2035. According to the news, Ambani has boosted his intention to invest in green projects. It announced plans to invest $10 billion in renewable energy in June.
Reliance plans to invest five trillion rupees ($67.4 billion) in Gujarat over the next ten to fifteen years to build a 100-gigawatt renewable energy power plant and construct a green hydrogen eco-system.
Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) will benefit from the company’s eco-system, which will encourage entrepreneurs to adopt new technologies and ideas that will lead to captive usage of renewable energy and green hydrogen.
The company has announced that it will invest additional 600 billion rupees ($8.1 billion) in new energy manufacturing-integrated renewable manufacturing for solar panels, electrolyzers, and fuel cells. In addition, during the next 3 to 5 years, 250 billion rupees ($3.37 billion) will be invested in existing projects and new ventures. The company also stated that it will spend in upgrading Jio, its cellular operator, to 5G and expanding its retail operations.
The conglomerate’s decarbonization and green ecosystem projects are intended to help Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitions. India’s installed renewable energy capacity hit 150 GW in November, accounting for approximately 40% of the country’s total installed power capacity of 392 GW. By 2030, the country aims to have 500 GW of installed renewable energy capacity and to be carbon-neutral by 2070.
With revenue of $73.8 billion in the fiscal year ended March 2021, Reliance Industries is India’s largest private sector corporation. In the Forbes Global 2000 rankings of “World’s Largest Public Corporations” for 2021, the firm is ranked 55th, the highest among Indian companies.
In Gujarat, Reliance Industries’ units produce plastics and petrochemicals at the world’s largest refinery complex. Jio, India’s largest mobile telecom service, and Reliance Retail, India’s largest retailer, are also part of the corporation.
