AI Dominates Reliance AGM in India

Reliance Industries, the largest corporation in India by market capitalization, is not avoiding the AI frenzy that has engulfed the technology sector

Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani and other executives detailed plans to integrate AI across Reliance’s extensive business empire, which spans telecommunications, retail, and energy, at Thursday’s 47th annual general meeting. Nearly three dozen mentions of AI were made across two hours.

Reliance has disclosed its intention to establish substantial data centers in Jamnagar, Gujarat, equipped with artificial intelligence capabilities. The company’s renewable energy sources will fuel these data centers. According to Ambani, these facilities could reduce the cost of AI inferencing in India, making AI applications more affordable. There was a lack of information regarding the timeline and feasibility of the company’s goals.

To expedite the adoption of AI across its operations and other Reliance companies, Jio, Reliance’s telecom arm, is constructing a “comprehensive” AI suite known as “Jio Brain.” The company is collaborating with Jio Institute to establish an AI program to cultivate India’s next generation of AI talent.

Conglomerates such as Tata Group and Reliance, which have collaborated with Nvidia and several startups, have been actively developing AI applications and infrastructure in India, historically behind the global AI competition. This has resulted in a surge of activity in the past year.

According to Ambani, Reliance intends to provide Jio users with up to 100 GB of complimentary cloud storage through its Jio AI-Cloud service, which is scheduled to launch in October, around Diwali. During the presentation, Reliance exhibited JioPhonecall AI, a call recording and transcription service, and Jio TvOS, an operating system for its set-top boxes, including an AI vocal assistant.

Last year, the company admitted Ambani’s three children to its board of directors. It failed to provide updates regarding the eagerly anticipated initial public offerings of Jio, India’s largest telco operator, and Reliance Retail, the nation’s largest retail chain.

“The market is anticipating an update on the IPO of telco and retail, as the RIL chairman had previously stated that they would do so within five years,” bank analysts at Bank of America have stated.

According to Ambani, the company anticipates that Jio and Retail will double their revenue and EBITDA within three to four years. Jefferies, a brokerage firm, announced last month that Reliance may list Jio next year at a valuation exceeding $110 billion.

Jio secured approximately $20 billion in 2020 from investors such as Meta, Google, Mubadala, ADIA, and KKR. $65 billion was the valuation of the Reliance subsidiary at the time of the financing. Last year, Reliance Retail raised approximately $1.85 billion at a valuation of $100 billion while also raising $7 billion from external investors in 2020.