RIL AGM 2024: Read full text of Isha Ambani and Akash Ambani speeches

The 47th annual general meeting (AGM) of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) witnessed several key announcements, ranging from the upcoming launch of Jio AI Cloud to the company's target to double its retail business.

Among the keynote speakers were Akash Ambani, the chairman of Jio Infocomm, and his sister Isha Ambani, who overseas the retail business. While Akash is one of the two sons of RIL chief Mukesh Ambani, Isha is his daughter.

Read full speech of Isha Ambani here:

Thank you, Chairman (Mukesh Ambani). Allow me now to present the highlights of last year’s performance. • Reliance Retail recorded Gross Revenue of ₹3,06,848 crore ($36.8 billion), a growth of 17.8% over last year. • We continued our trajectory of strong profit growth, registering an EBITDA of ₹23,082 crore ($2.8 billion), up 28.4% YoY and net profit of ₹11,101 crore ($1.3 billion), up 21% YoY. • At 8.5%, the EBITDA margin continued to show improvements and grew 70 bps YoY. • Our stores witnessed over a billion footfalls, and we had more than 1.25 billion transactions across our channels. • Registered customer base crossed a milestone of 300 million customers, nearly the population of the US. • We opened 1,840 new stores this year, bringing our total store count to 18,836 stores, with a retail space of 79 million square feet in total. • During the year, Reliance Retail undertook an equity fund raise of ₹17,814 crore ($2.1 billion), achieving a valuation milestone of USD 100 billion.

Let me now cover key highlights of our businesses. Dear Shareholders, In grocery, we are not only the largest, but also one of the fastest-growing retailers, expanding at 2.5 times the rate of the rest of modern trade. Our growth is driven by our focus on smaller towns, where over two-thirds of our new stores are opening. In many of these markets, we are the first modern retailer to establish a presence. At the same time, we are selectively expanding our premium formats, Fresh Signature and Freshpik, in large cities, continually innovating to enhance the consumer experience.

Our impact extends beyond just retail. We work closely with thousands of small and medium vendors, regional brands, and new-age start-ups, providing them a platform to grow and scale with Indian consumers. This creates opportunities for small entrepreneurs to showcase their products and expand their reach.

For example, Mukharochak Chanachur, a specialty from Kolkata, is now available in hundreds of our stores outside West Bengal.

Laxmi Narayan Chiwda from Pune has co-created a highly successful Misal Mix exclusively for our Smart Bazaar stores.

Brands like YogaBar, Soulfull, Mamaearth, and Storia are finding success nationwide through our collaboration. As we continue to introduce new offerings and expand our reach, we believe this business will grow rapidly, enhancing both our market presence and profitability.

Our online platform, JioMart, adds another layer of convenience, offering hyperlocal delivery with a wide and relevant assortment. Every one of our stores is equipped to seamlessly handle digital orders.

Our extensive network of Smart Points in over 1,300 cities gives us a significant competitive advantage in the e-commerce space.

Milkbasket, our subscription service, makes it easy for households to receive daily deliveries of essential products at their preferred schedule.

We are expanding this service to new geographies, leveraging our existing supply chain.

With the acquisition of Metro India Cash & Carry, we have strengthened our omni-channel capabilities, offering a wider assortment for our kirana and HoReCa partners.

We are delighted to have over 4 million registered kirana partners in our new commerce business, supported by a footprint of over 220 Metro stores across 200 cities.

In our Consumer Brands business, we are focused on creating high-quality products at affordable prices to drive greater consumption across India. We have re-launched several popular brands like Campa, Lotus Chocolates, and Sosyo. The early success of all these brands gives us confidence that we are on the right path.

We have built a robust pan-India supply chain through our own facilities and strategic partnerships, allowing us to offer products at highly competitive prices. Our state-of-the-art R&D facility in Bengaluru is key to this effort, enabling us to quickly develop world-class food products and bring them to market at great speeds. This has driven strong growth across our own channels and through general trade.

We are also establishing 7-Eleven as a leading 24x7 convenience destination, offering localised fresh food and beverages tailored to the Indian palate.

In Fashion and Lifestyle, our vertically integrated operations—from designing and fabric sourcing to logistics and distribution—allow us to set trends and meet the diverse fashion needs of our customers across the country. We are the only fashion player in India with a significant presence in every segment of the income pyramid, from mass market to premium and luxury segments.

Our investments in brands like Kalanikethan, Zivame, Clovia, Amante, and Urban Ladder have given us a strong foothold in these categories. Our own brands Avaasa, Netplay, and DNMX each surpassed the ₹2,000 crore ($240 million) annual sales milestone last year, while John Players and Teamspirit crossed ₹1,000 crore ($120 million) in sales. To keep up with this growth, we have established 18 domestic and 3 international design centres, ensuring our designs are locally relevant.

We have also developed an end-to-end digital platform that reduces the time from concept design to store shelf to just 30 days, ensuring that our stores are always stocked with the freshest merchandise.

New formats like Yousta and Swadesh offer fast, accessible fashion, while Ajio continues to lead as an online fashion destination, with repeat customers contributing 85% of sales. Ajio Luxe is also solidifying its position as the top fashion destination for premium and luxury customers. Our partnerships with ASOS and Shein will bring trendy fashion products to the Indian market, keeping pace with global fashion trends.

Turning to consumer electronics, we remain the market leader, driven by our commitment to personalised customer experiences and offering tailored solutions. A key differentiator for us is the high-quality sales and after-sales service provided through our in-house service arm, resQ.

We have rapidly scaled our on-demand services for electronics across India and expanded our big-box Reliance Digital format, alongside a new, productivity-focused format for the latest mobiles and laptops.

Our emerging businesses continue to show robust growth.

In our Jewels business, we are expanding our design capabilities to offer products tailored to specific occasions and regional tastes, launching both regional and national collections.

We also have ambitious plans to enter the luxury jewellery segment with a curated, design-led experience and are exploring the fashion jewellery and accessories segment to broaden our market reach.

In Beauty, we are building our presence through an omni-channel strategy across multiple formats, like Tira, Sephora, Kiko Milano, and Blushlace. We are also enhancing our beauty and personal care offerings across our existing formats—grocery, fashion, and pharma—both online and offline. Our investment in Insight Cosmetics is enabling us to create our own brand portfolio.

Justdial continues to strengthen its position as the go-to platform for SMEs in India, now serving over 170 million quarterly users, and more than 5 lakh paying merchants.

To further accelerate our deep-tech and AI-native capabilities, we are investing in companies with proven expertise. Addverb is a global leader in robotics, providing innovative warehouse automation solutions with intelligent robots, while Fynd specializes in retail-tech solutions, enhancing customer experiences across multiple platforms. With the strong foundation we have built, I am confident that we will achieve our goal of doubling our Retail business in the next 3 to 4 years.

Here are the key excerpts from Akash Ambani's address at RIL AGM

Good afternoon, everyone! Today, we're excited to share the newest features in Jio Home, making your home more connected, convenient, and smarter than ever before. Jio has transformed digital home services in India over the past few years. Millions now enjoy ultra-fast internet, seamless video streaming, and top OTT applications, powered by our Jio Home Broadband and Jio Set Top Box. But at Jio, we believe in constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Today, we’re excited to unveil the next evolution in Jio Home offerings.

A few years ago, we introduced Hello Jio – the voice assistant that is now part of TvOS that lets you control your Set-Top Box with your voice, accessible using the mic button on the Jio Remote. Hello Jio has quickly become one of the most loved features of JioSTB.

Recently, we made Hello Jio even smarter using the latest Generative AI technologies, improving its natural language understanding and making it feel more human-like. Now, finding content on JioSTB is easier than ever. For example, just say, 'Hello Jio, find action movies,' and it will search across all your apps like Amazon Prime, Disney+, HotStar and more. And it will show you the best options in a single combined list. No more searching through each of your apps – one by one – to find what you want.

What also sets TvOS apart is Jio App Store, a key feature of the Jio STB. A rapidly growing developer ecosystem is creating innovative apps designed specifically for Jio Home, enhancing every aspect of your lifestyle. Whether you want to stay active with motion-based fitness, explore new educational content with your kids, or shop directly from the TV, the Jio App Store has something for everyone in your family.

Imagine practicing yoga with real-time feedback from an AI-powered virtual coach, or enjoying an augmented reality shopping experience that lets you try on clothes or makeup, all from the comfort of your couch. These are just a few examples of the smart apps our developer community has created for Jio STB.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to our developer community for their continuous innovation and for enhancing the Indian home experience through their creativity and dedication.

To unify these incredible features, we have developed the JioHome app. The JioHome app is your personal control centre, letting you manage everything in your home—from your Wi-Fi to your smart devices—with just a few taps. And because your security is our top priority, JioHome app includes features like malware detection and guest Wi-Fi management, keeping your home network safe and secure.

Now, let’s talk about JioTV+ and our vision for the future of digital entertainment. JioTV+ brings all your entertainment—live TV, on-demand shows, and apps—together in one easy-to-use platform. With JioTV+, you get access to over 860 live TV channels, with all leading channels in stunning high definition, plus the best content from apps like Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar—all in one place. And we have optimized JioTV+ for a super-fast channel switching experience. Switching between your favourite channels is now faster than ever, so you won’t miss a single moment of the action.

But that’s not all. We are elevating digital entertainment with advanced interactive features. Imagine watching a live cricket match or the Olympics and being able to pull up stats, buy tickets, or switch camera angles—all without leaving the action. That’s the power of JioTV+.

Now, let’s talk about AI. Our chairman introduced the concept of Connected Intelligence—where AI services and data are seamlessly delivered from the cloud over ultra-fast broadband, accessible anytime, anywhere, on any device. Today, we are excited to talk about a new service that we are developing, that makes using AI as easy as making a phone call. We call this service JioPhonecall AI, which lets you use AI with every phone call.

JioPhonecall AI can record and store any call in Jio Cloud and automatically transcribe it, which means automatically convert it from voice to text. It can also summarise the call, and even translate it into another language. This allows anyone to easily capture and access important voice conversations, making them searchable, shareable, and understandable across languages—all with just a few clicks.

Let’s dive into the experience to show you how simple it is. Imagine that you are in an important phone call. Jio has given a separate, dedicated phone number to Phonecall AI. Just add the JioPhonecall AI’s phone number to your call, just like you would another person. Once you hear the welcome message, press #1 to start recording and transcribing the call. Now you can begin your conversation.

Another example of Connected Intelligence is JioBharat, our ultra-affordable, entry-level 4G phone. Even though JioBharat costs less than a 2G phone, it packed with powerful digital services like UPI payments, video and audio streaming, and hundreds of live TV channels. This is possible because we offload much of the processing from the device to the cloud, delivering results seamlessly over our 4G network.

These are just a few ways we are bringing advanced AI through Connected Intelligence to every Indian, simply and effectively. We will keep bringing you AI solutions that work hand-in-hand with our network and cloud, making life easier and better for everyone in India. And with that, let us invite our chairman back on stage.