Also see: Excerpts from Mukesh Ambani AGM speech

EB Bureau

Stating that entering into the power business is a logical step for Reliance Industries Ltd, company chairman Mukesh Ambani said, “We will be bidding for the Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPP) and will unveil our investment plans for power sector over next few months.”
He was replying to comments, observations and questions raised by various shareholders at the company’s 36th annual general meeting (AGM), which held in Mumbai on Friday.
The central government has already called for the Request for Qualification (RFQ) for the UMPP project at Sarguja in Chhattisgarh and likely to issue the RFQs for the Akaltara project in Chhattisgarh in October-November this year. A senior RIL executive confirmed later that the company has already bought the RFQ document.
Ambani also announced that as a truce has been called between the two warring brothers after the Supreme Court’s judgement early May on the gas pricing dispute, his company will supply gas to estranged brother Anil Ambani’s power plants as and when they are ready, subject to government approval.
The younger Ambani did not turn up for the AGM s expected. Many of them, who spoke at the AGM, expressed their desire to see both brothers together and ADAG companies returning to the RIL fold.
Earlier during his address, speaking about the company’s power sector plans he said, entering the power business is a natural extension of the company’s energy portfolio, “We see an unbounded opportunity in this sector”. Ambani said that RIL is drawing up specific plans for mega investment in coal, hydro and nuclear power projects.
RIL holds cash and cash balances worth Rs 21,874 crore which gives it the leverage to enter new sectors. RIL would look to invest in nuclear power projects as and when it is opened up for the private sector, he said. In the alternative energy business, it would focus on solar power segment, he added.
While replying to queries of the shareholders about the situation like Gulf of Mexico taking place at RIL’s oil and gas assets senior Ambani assured the investors by saying, “At Reliance our moto is not profits at the cost of safety; as a responsible corporate citizen, we will continue to play an active role in protecting the environment of societies in which we operate.”
Meanwhile a senior executive from the company said that although the company is keen on participating in the bidding process for the UMPP projects, reports of RIL taking over the Ispat group’s 1,000 Mw project at Bhadrawati in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district were speculation.
“Our competence lies in building new projects in the most cost- and time-efficient manner, why we would take over a project which has been delayed for several years and is already saddled with known and unknown liabilities
He remained non committal about company’s participation in the 9th round of NELP expected to take place in August. “We already have many projects in our hand which we need to monetize. Had CBM projects been included in latest round of auctioning, we would have been keen to participate.”

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