Reliance Industries Ltd will invest Rs 75,000 crore in rolling out 5G mobile telephony services, expanding retail network, and setting up renewable energy capacity in Uttar Pradesh in the next four years, its chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Friday.
Ambani also announced a foray of the oil-to-telecom conglomerate into the bio-energy business, converting agriculture waste into gas which can be used as fuel in industries, run automobiles, or light kitchen stoves.
Speaking at the Uttar Pradesh Global Investors Summit 2023 here, Ambani said his group will set up 10 GigaWatts of renewable energy capacity and roll out 5G services across the state in the next 10 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.
The investment will be in addition to Rs 50,000 crore already invested in the state.
Reliance Jio, the nation's largest telecom company by subscribers, will complete its rollout of 5G to cover every town and village in the state by December 2023.
Stating that this will help modernise all areas of business and industry, agriculture, social sector, and governance, he said the company plans to do pilots on its two new innovative initiatives -- Jio School and Jio AI Doctor -- to bring top-class education and healthcare in the most affordable way to villages and small towns across Uttar Pradesh.
Reliance Retail, he said, will revolutionise hundreds of thousands of kiranas and small stores across the state, enabling them to grow more and earn more.
Besides physical stores, the firm also connects customers to nearby kirana stores through a mobile app and website and 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.
The venture would benefit farmers as well as help in solid waste management and improve the environment.
Ambani said this year's Union Budget has laid the foundation for India's emergence as a 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 because Indians are embracing technology at a rate unseen even in the developed world, it has the world's largest population of young people, has farsighted leadership and 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 went on to shower lavish praise on the state for its improving law and order, infrastructure, and ease of doing business. "Together we can and we will transport India's most populous state into one of India's most prosperous states."