ADAG's marathon AGMs

It was almost like a record of sorts. ADAG companies AGMs lasted for eight hours and we are talking about 4 AGMs, all back-to-back. And Anil Ambani was very much a part of these eight hours. The four AGMs, held yesterday were of Rcom, Reliance Capital, Reliance Infra and Reliance Power.

For a man whose group is sitting on a gargantuan debt of over Rs.1.22 trillion, he sounded upbeat, optimistic and once again, full of plans for the future. Well, he obviously could not have sounded down, as though weighed down by the debt burden. He went on to make grandiose announcements – Reliance Power to invest around Rs.50,000 crore over the next 5 years to set up a 4000 MW plant in Jharkhand. This will also include a 40 mtpa coal mine. It also plans to develop a 500 MW solar power under the ultra mega park policy announced by the government. Most important announcement – he plans to cut debt of around Rs.35,000 crore to under Rs.20,000 crore in the next 24 months. Now that will be something! But with such ambitious plans, with only around Rs.5000 crore cash, how will he fund without raising more debt?

Interestingly, for the AGM, Anil Ambani was accompanied by his wife Tina and son Jai Anmol. Seen for the first time, the shutterbugs went crazy clicking pictures of this rich scion. All in all, shareholders came back from the AGM feeling, well, nothing. Plans were huge but they know that till debt comes down, turnaround is a long way off.