In the next four years, Reliance Industries Ltd's chairman Mukesh Ambani plans to invest Rs 75,000 crore in rolling out 5G mobile telephony services, expanding retail networks, and establishing renewable energy capacity in Uttar Pradesh.
Ambani also announced the oil-to-telecom conglomerate's entry into the bio-energy business, which will convert agricultural waste into gas that can be used as fuel in industries, to power automobiles, or to light kitchen stoves.
Ambani stated at the Uttar Pradesh Global Investors Summit 2023 that his company will build 10 GigaWatts of renewable energy capacity and roll out 5G services across the state in the next ten months.
"We plan to invest an additional Rs 75,000 crore in UP over the next four years across Jio, retail, and renewable businesses," he said.
"These new investments will create an additional over 1 lakh jobs in the state," he added.
This investment will supplement the Rs 50,000 crore already invested in the state.
Reliance Jio, the country's largest telecom company by subscribers, plans to finish rolling out 5G to every town and village in the state by December 2023.
He stated that this will help modernise all areas of business and industry, agriculture, social sector, and governance, and that the company plans to conduct pilots on its two new innovative initiatives, Jio School and Jio AI Doctor, to bring top-class education and healthcare to villages and small towns across Uttar Pradesh at the most affordable price.
He claims that Reliance Retail will transform hundreds of thousands of kiranas and small stores across the state, allowing them to grow and earn more.
Aside from physical stores, the company uses a mobile app and website to connect customers to nearby kirana stores, and it also delivers goods orders.
"It will benefit our hard-working kisans, local artisans, craftsmen, MSMEs, as well as the supply chain ecosystem in UP," Ambani said.
Ambani announced that the group's new energy arm will set up 10 GW of capacity, the largest in UP.
"We will also start an ambitious new bio-energy business," he said without giving much details.
Farmers would benefit from the venture, which would also aid in solid waste management and environmental improvement.
Ambani stated that this year's Union Budget has laid the groundwork for India's rise to the status of developed nation.
"It stands out for its highest ever resource allocation for building the foundation for the country's growth in terms of capital expenditure. This is bound to not only boost economic growth but also achieve greater social welfare," he said.
"I am confident that India is on a very strong growth path," he said.
According to him, this is due to the fact that Indians are embracing technology at a rate unprecedented even in the developed world, that it has the world's largest population of young people, that it has farsighted leadership, and that there is unprecedented hope and optimism among people.
"Nobody in the world can question the fundamentals of the Indian economy. They are robust. Now is the time for all our enterprises to step up on the accelerator," he said.
He then lavished praise on the state for improving law and order, infrastructure, and the ease of doing business. "Together, we can and will transform India's most populous state into one of the most prosperous states in the country."