Business / This normalcy is still clouded by uncertainty: Mukesh Ambani

New Delhi: Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani on December 28 addressed the virtual Reliance Family Day 2021 event. The event was held to celebrate the 89th birth anniversary of the founder of Reliance Industries, Dhirubhai Ambani.

Read the full text of RIL CMD Mukesh Ambani's speech:

My Reliance Family,A very warm good evening to each and every one of you.Reliance Family Day is very special for all of us in the Reliance परिवार.It’s our Family उत्सव to celebrate the spirit of togetherness and oneness.…and to remember, with utmost gratitude, my father and our Founder Chairman Shri Dhirubhai Ambani.He lives in our hearts, now and forever.Let me extend a warm welcome on behalf of my mother Kokilaben,Nita and meIsha and AnandAkash and Shloka andAnant and Radhikaand our dearest Prithvi.Prithvi is the newest member of our family.Over the last year, he has brought boundless joy to our lives.I am sure all parents and grandparents amongst you have experienced the same joy.This tradition of inter-generational living together is a unique and precious asset of our Indian culture.After all, there is nothing more precious that we can give to our children and grandchildren than love…and everlasting memories of that love.At the end of the day, what matters most is not material wealth……. but the wealth of love and care we receive and the wealth of love and care that we give to others.We have inherited this unique family culture from our forefathers and we must preserve this even as we modernize.FriendsThe world, our nation, our Reliance Family have been through a lot during the last nearly two years.Of course, now a semblance of normality is slowly returning.But this normalcy is still clouded by uncertainty.Which is why, we simply cannot afford to lower the guard.I hope that all of you are taking all the precautions to stay safe and stay healthy.For the second year, we are only having a virtual celebration of our Reliance Family Day.I sorely miss the experience of meeting you face-to-face, and greeting you with spontaneous laughter, handshakes and hugs.In 2022, I look forward to meeting all of you sooner than later.Friends,Even though these are difficult times, Covid has taught us some important lessons.First lesson: HEALTH FIRST.Covid has made all of us more health conscious and fitness conscious.Health is true wealth.We have now begun to realise it more acutely than ever before.Earning and retaining this wealth of good health is in our own hands.The ingredients are Healthy Food, Good Thoughts. Good Deeds, Yoga, Meditation, Sports, Exercises …Let’s make these a habit across the Reliance Family.Let me remind you positivity, optimism and can-do attitude creates a positive environment.As leaders it is our job to create a positive environment whether in the family or in the company.Second lesson: SAFETY FIRST.The pandemic has taught us that the safety of each and every one is inseparably linked to safety of all.In other words, no one is fully safe in this world unless all of us are fully vaccinated with vaccines that work.I am proud of the safety record of the million strong Reliance family relative to the world and the country.I must thank Nita and all the spouses for taking the lead in maintaining the safety of their families.Let us continue to ensure the safety of the entire Reliance family, the communities around us and our nationThird lesson: FAMILY FIRST.At Reliance, our families are the greatest sources of our strength for each and every one of us.During the pandemic, WORK FROM HOME has enabled all of us to spend more quality time with our children, spouse and parents.In future, technology will offer even more exciting ways of Hybrid and Virtual Work.Which means, we can work more efficiently and also devote more time to our families and friends.We can also invest greater amounts of time for cultivating our interests and for enjoying intimacy with Nature.This will provide us an opportunity to create an even better work-life balance by focusing on things that matter the most.Let me tell you in all honesty that, for me, RELIANCE AS A HAPPY FAMILY is as important as RELIANCE AS A SUPER-SUCCESSFUL COMPANY.Dear Colleagues,Today is also a day for me to thank each and every one of you for your devotion, contribution, commitment and hard work to Reliance and for making it a stronger company.THANK YOU from the bottom from my heart,When I look back at the past two years, my heart is filled with admiration and appreciation for all of you in the Reliance Family.Last year, despite the pandemic we have done remarkable things that has earned us global admiration and respect – whether in business or through the Foundation.One: We have completely re-engineered our ENERGY BUSINESS.…Now Reliance is poised to become a global leader in CLEAN AND GREEN ENERGY and MATERIALS.This transformation of our oldest business will provide us the largest growth engine for Reliance and yet another opportunity to many of you to do things that will be first in the world,Two: Reliance Retail has revolutionized organized retail in India.In the past one year alone, we have onboarded nearly one million small shopkeepers and created nearly one lakh new employment opportunities.This growth engine will continue to create significant societal value by providing unlimited opportunities for our partners and employees.Three: Jio has gained over 120 million subscribers and brought fiber to nearly 4 million homes and commercial establishments.It has laid the foundation for making India the world’s premier DIGITAL SOCIETY.Four: I will like to express my deepest gratitude to Nita and Isha for their leadership to Reliance Foundation as they rendered mammoth humanitarian services across the nook and corners of our country.The doctors and nurses at our Reliance Foundation Hospital risked their lives to save others’.When Covid patients were in dire need of oxygen, our engineers in Jamnagar made Reliance India's largest producer of medical grade liquid oxygen.Our team at Reliance Life Sciences enhanced the capacities of testing across multiple locations when the company and the country needed it.Our media business colleagues ensured that the consumers get their news and entertainment without any interruptions.

Your families should be proud of all your contribution for the growth of Reliance.

I am proud of each and every one of you for going beyond the call of duty.All of you are the TRUE HEROES OF RELIANCE.My dear family,On Reliance Family Day, we must recall and rededicate ourselves to the foundational purpose of Reliance.Dhirubhai put it succinctly — TO MAKE INDIA PROSPEROUS and TO TRANSFORM THE LIFE OF EVERY INDIAN for the betterHe taught us that business must have a social purpose beyond profits.He also showed us the way to achieve this purpose — by constantly increasing Reliance’s Societal Value and bettering ourselves every year.He emphasized that every generation has to be better than the previous ones.That foundational purpose, that passion and that mission will never change.As we enter the second half of Reliance’s Golden Decade, I can tell you that the future of our company looks brighter to me than ever before.I can confidently make two predictions.First, India will become one of the Top Three economies in the world.Second, Reliance will become one of the strongest and most reputed Indian multinational companies in the world.To seize this humungous opportunity, now is the time to lay the foundation for Reliance’s future growth over the coming decades ……Just as Dhirubhai had laid a robust foundation for today’s Reliance at the beginning of the 1990s.Given our existing portfolio, growth engines and our strong balance sheet availability of finance and opportunities will be unlimited.What we must focus on is the imperative to build an ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE capable of translating the opportunity into reality.Let me share with you three IMPERATIVES or MUST-DOS, that all of us at Reliance must embrace and make it a way of life.THE FIRST IMPERATIVE: We must never become complacent of what we have achieved in the past.Companies that become laid-back because of their previous achievements become footnotes in a history book.Only those become the subject of an entire and forever unfinished book who achieve perpetual growth throughconstant renewal and re-inventionperennial paranoia for improving capability and competencyand for always upping their game.I would like the story of Reliance to be told in that book which has no final chapter……… and one which is continually updated with records of bolder initiatives and more glittering successes…….. and where successive generations create even greater societal value and contribute to India’s growth.This is the only way for today’s and tomorrow’s leaders to earn the right to call themselves the true inheritors of the legacy of Dhirubhai Ambani.SECOND IMPERATIVE: We must continuously revisit, iterate, re-iterate and COMMUNICATE the common philosophy of “WE CARE” that guides and inspires Reliance.What is this ‘WE CARE” philosophy?I have stated this before, but it merits repetition today.At Reliance…WE CARE for our PLANET;WE CARE for our NATION;WE CARE for our PEOPLE;WE CARE for our CUSTOMERS, PARTNERS and SHAREHOLDERS;WE CARE for our EMPLOYEES AND THEIR FAMILIES;And, last but not the least, WE CARE for our own SELF-GROWTH.This common purpose creates a SHARED IDENTITY for every old and new member of Reliance Family.It strengthens their sense of belonging and their feeling of PRIDE in working for one of the WORLD’S GREAT COMPANIES.Friends,If this is the shared purpose of Reliance, then our MINDSET and our BEHAVIOR must align with this philosophy.What do I mean by this?I mean that…We must be forever EMPATHETIC and COMPASSIONATE in our behavior.We must be forever POSITIVE in our thoughts and action.We must be forever HOPEFUL about the future.We must forever follow the HIGHEST STANDARDS OF HONESTY and INTEGRITY.We must be forever INNOVATIVE and be forever ready to TAKE BOLD INITIATIVES in today’s fast-changing world.As Reliance grows bigger and becomes more global, we must be even more committed to these guiding values and principles.Let me now state the THIRD IMPERATIVE.I attach special importance to this.Achieving big dreams and impossible-looking goals is all about getting the RIGHT PEOPLE and the RIGHT LEADERSHIP.Reliance is now in the process of effecting a momentous LEADERSHIP TRANSITION……From SENIORS belonging to my generation to the next generation of YOUNG LEADERS.I would like this process to be accelerated.All Seniors — MYSELF INCLUDED — should now yield to the highly competent, extremely committed and incredibly promising young leadership talent at Reliance.We should guide them, enable them, encourage them and empower them……and sit back and applaud as they perform better than us.Let me summarise it this way.At Reliance we must build an organizational culture that OUTLASTS ITS LEADERS.We must continuously sow seeds of GOOD CULTURE and GOOD NURTURE, so that we can create a garden that is perpetually beautiful and perpetually bountiful.I have no doubt that Akash, Isha and Anant as the next-gen leaders will lead Reliance to even greater heights.I can see and feel their passion, commitment, and devotion to the cause of Reliance every day.I see in them the same spark and potential that my father had for making a difference to millions of lives and contributing to India’s growth.Let us all wish them good luck in their mission to make Reliance ever more successful with even more transformative initiatives and achieving even greater accolades for our Reliance.Dear Reliance family,Let me conclude.The last 21 months have been extraordinary…and unforgettable.They showed us how things can go wrong…and in most unexpected ways.But they also showed us how our resilience and determination can overcome the biggest of challenges.How we in our company can emerge stronger out of such adversities.I see a bright future for India and Reliance and for each and every one of you and your families.Today, let’s resolve to work for that future with COURAGE and COLLECTIVITY, with HOPE and POSITIVITY, with DEVOTION and SINCERITY.I pray to Shrinathji to bless all of us with success in our efforts and to realise all our dreams.As we enter 2022, I will like to wish everyone in your family all the very best and a wonderful new year in which you realise all your aspirations and dreams.All the very best. Stay safe.Good luck. God bless.