Reliance to launch FMCG business this year: Isha Ambani at AGM

Mumbai: Reliance Retail will launch an FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) business this year, announced the company's Director Isha Ambani.
She made this announcement on Monday while addressing the shareholders at Reliance Industries' virtual Annual General Meeting. "The objective of this FMCG business is to develop and deliver products that solve every Indian daily needs with high-quality products at an affordable pricing," Isha Ambani said.
"As part of our commitment to India's rich culture and heritage, we will soon start marketing quality goods produced by tribals and other marginalised communities across India," she added.
Reliance Retail has achieved a record of Rs 2 lakh crore turnover and an EBITDA (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of Rs 12,000 crore and is among the Top-10 retailers in Asia.
Reliance Retail has opened over 2,500 stores this year to take its store count to over 15,000, spanning an operational area of 42 million sqft.
"During the year, we strengthened our own brands' presence by launching several new products across categories of Staples, Home, Personal Care and General Merchandise. Further, we launched our WhatsApp-JioMart partnership," said Isha.
Meanwhile, Reliance Jio is all set to launch high-speed 5G telecom services by Diwali this year in multiple key cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.
Subsequently, it intends to expand its 5G network to each and every town, tehsils and talukas across the country by December of 2023, which is nearly 18 months from now.
Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani made the announcement while addressing the shareholders at the Annual General Meeting via immersive and interactive metaverse technology.
Jio will deploy the latest version of 5G called standalone 5G. It will invest Rs 2 lakh crore on 5G infrastructure.
Besides Metaverse, AGM was live on different social media platforms apart from their homegrown HD video conferencing application JioMeet. It is probably the first company globally to conduct its annual general meeting on a virtual reality platform and various social media platforms.
Investors were eagerly waiting to know the launch details of 5G services from Reliance's top boss. RIL's telecom arm Reliance Jio Infocomm topped in India's 5G spectrum auction bidding.
Reliance Jio Infocomm has acquired spectrum in 700MHz, 800MHz, 1800MHz, 3300MHz and 26GHz bands in the recently-concluded 5G auctions conducted by the Department of Telecommunications, where the government received around Rs 1.5 lakh worth of bids.
Launched six years ago, Jio has created multiple world records during its rollout of the largest 4G network in the shortest period of time. Jio's 4G network provides the highest quality, most affordable digital services to over 400 million loyal and delighted customers. Jio is expected to now raise the bar even further with its 5G services.
5G is the fifth-generation mobile network capable of transmitting a large set of data at a very rapid speed.
In comparison to 3G and 4G, 5G has a very low latency which will enhance user experiences in various sectors. Low latency describes the efficiency to process a very high volume of data messages with a minimal delay.
The 5G rollout is also expected to bring more development in remote data monitoring in sectors such as mining, warehousing, telemedicine, and manufacturing, among others.
Reliance Jio, Adani group, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea were the four major participants in the spectrum auction. (ANI)