A day with Reliance

I woke up to the news of Reliance Industries planning to buy a majority stake in Future Group. This took me back to 2006 - I was doing MBA at NL Dalmia Institue and had a presentation for Economics with my batchmate Bhavesh Jain. The subject was taught to us by Professor Vinayak Date. The point of discussion was what happens if the Ambani brothers synergise their businesses. Jio was nowhere in the picture then.

As a millennial, born and bought up in the city of Mumbai, Reliance has touched my life in many ways, some knowingly, much unknowingly. The Ambanis’ story has the ring of an entrepreneurial fairy tale. I first read about the tale in the book Business Maharajas by the business historian Dr Gita Piramal I remembered the discussions of the presentation and thought of presenting them with some updated pointers to reiterate the fact that the conglomerate has become an essential part of our lives already and soon our lives could be 'Reliance Dependent'. Here goes the story:

It was a regular Saturday morning, I woke up on my bed having mattresses, pillows and blankets made of Recron brand. While going to work I wore a Vimal suit purchased from the Reliance Trends retail store and topped it up with formal shoes and office bag from Reliance Footprint. Formal clothes on a Saturday as I had two client meetings lined up. At work, I ate lunch made by groceries and fruits brought from Reliance Fresh, Reliance SMART and Sahkari Bhandar. The food was cooked on Reliance Gas. I got my daily dose of business news from CNBC 18, a Network 18 Group channel, this TV in my cabin was purchased from Reliance Digital.

I made a few quick calls from my Jio number and proceeded for the first meeting. I was running late, and so had to leave the car at the office and travel by the Mumbai Metro. The first meeting was over earlier, and I had ample time. Hence I decided to take a cab to the second meeting at Worli, we went through the iconic Bandra Worli Sealink constructed by Reliance Infrastructure to avoid traffic. During a casual chit-chat, the cab driver informed me that he will be soon paying the last instalment of the car loan he has taken from Reliance Capital.

After the second meeting, the client informed me that he visited the Taj Mahal recently with a guest coming from abroad and they drove from Delhi to Agra and back. The journey was smoother as compared to the earlier days; all thanks to the new expressway which is now rebuilt by Reliance Roads. On my way back to the office, I played some games on the Jio Engage platform. Upon reaching office, I uploaded all the important work files on JioCloud, so I may access them from home during the weekend if need be. As I drove back home, I refuelled the car at Reliance Petroleum Retail outlet, at that time the attendant asked me whether I would like to replace the car tyres with the new tyres made from Reflex.

Next day, as it was a Sunday, my spouse and I decided to watch a movie. We have two options of films released on Friday, one produced by Viacom 18 and the other one by Reliance-Eros LLP. I booked the tickets for a film in advance to avoid last moment hustles through BookMyShow.com. I watched the movie at a Carnival Multiplex near my home which earlier used to be BIG Cinemas. In the opening credits of the movie, I got to know that its theatrical distribution was done by Reliance Entertainment. Also, it was edited at Prime Focus Studios, one of the world's largest editing studios - a part of Reliance Group. After the movie my spouse asked me for the anniversary gift that I forgot, hinting towards the Reliance Jewels store in the same mall. I promised her for buying a gift next time and we headed towards the food zone and ordered a meal for two along with bottled water. Incidentally, that PET bottle was made by Relpet. The food was delivered to our table in containers made by Repol and Relene. After dinner, we purchased a birthday gift for my wife's nephew from Hamleys before proceeding home.

While driving back, we tuned in to radio; and listened to some retro songs on BIG FM which was earlier owned by Reliance Group. After reaching home, I wanted to catch some weekend news updates and log on to Moneycontrol and Forbes India on my mobile device. At the same time, I got reminded by my father to pay the electricity bill by Adani Power which was erstwhile Reliance Energy. After making the payments and no more in a mood to read, I again listen to some retro music on JioSaavn.

As I woke up on Monday, my mother told me that she is not feeling well and needed to see her regular doctor at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital. I called the hospital only to find that the doctor today is out as he has a meeting at Reliance Life Sciences, a biopharma company. Upon request, he agreed for a video consultation on the Jio Meet App. He advised us some medical tests and informed that the pathologist from Reliance Clinical Research Services (RCRS) will come home to take the samples. I ordered the prescribed medicines through Netmeds (till the time of writing the article, Reliance was eyeing a majority stake in Netmeds). I also got reminded by my mother to pay the premium for her health insurance policy from Reliance Health Insurance Limited which was due soon. Upon reaching office, I got to know that for a project I will need to go to Nagpur the next day.

The next day, at the Mumbai airport, I saw trucks of Reliance Logistics heading to the cargo area. Reliance Logistics happens to be an asset-based company with its own fleet and infrastructure. Upon reaching Nagpur airport, I got to understand that the Nagpur Airport and the Nagpur Metro are Green Airport and Green Metro, run on Solar energy. From lighting systems to water purification, refrigeration systems and air conditioners, the entire project had been executed in consultation with Reliance Solar. I headed in a cab to the Mihan-SEZ, where I passed by a huge factory of Reliance Defence. The large walls of the factory did not allow me to see anything inside. The company is a JV between Reliance Group and its JV partner French major Dassault Aviation. The first Rafale warplane and Falcon business jet are expected to come out of the Nagpur factory soon. Over a period of time, the factory will also be used for R&D initiatives of Reliance Naval and Engineering. The plot next belonged to Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Limited which was building industrial infrastructure for micro, small and medium enterprises to be leased in the SEZ. Reliance also planned to set up Relicord (cord blood banking service) storage unit in the SEZ.

The economic centrality of Reliancein India is not very difficult to explain. A glance at the annual reports will take one through mind-boggling numbers. In American terms, it’s as though Dow Chemical, AT&T, Exxon Mobil, and Amazon were a single conglomerate. The Ambani brothers began their careers as intimate collaborators, with Anil once describing their approach as “two bodies, one mind.” But after the death of their father, they grew increasingly estranged, first splitting their empire and then becoming direct competitors. Their sibling rivalry since then has become a case study in promise and perils of not having a succession plan.

Knowingly or unknowingly we consume a lot of products or services having a Reliance imprint; the company with the largest market capitalisation in the country. From a small trading company in the 1960s to now touching every aspect of our life in 2020; the company has come a long way. The company has major plans to foray into various other sectors. It has become the best case study for Backward and Forward Integration modules. The group businesses are intertwined and support each other in a hybrid manner. Imagine a day if both brothers synergise their businesses. They again will be able to probably unlock more value than working individually. The narrative above is fiction but the growth of the conglomerate is a complete reality. May it continue to live, rise, shine and grow as per the tagline “Growth Is Life”