India’s Reliance Industries Ltd, owned by Mukesh Ambani has surpassed US-based ExxonMobil to become the world’s second-largest energy company driven by colossal investments made into its digital arm, Jio Platforms over the last few months.
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Reliance, which owns the biggest refinery unit, raised its market value by 4.3 percent this week to add another $8 billion and reach $189 billion while ExxonMobil erased close to $1 billion from its valuation.
Saudi Arabia’s Aramco is still the biggest energy company with a market capitalization of $1.76 trillion.
Over the last few months, Reliance’s shares have surged 43% this year whereas there was a significant 39% drop in Exxon’s shares as production units all across the struggled to adapt with a fall in fuel demand.
Even though the firm’s energy business contributed to approximately 80% of its revenue in the year which ended on March 31, Reliance’s rise in market valuation can be contributed to its Chairman Mukesh Ambani’s plan to diversify the company’s digital and retail arms which have helped him gather $20 billion into Jio Platforms Ltd.
The conglomerates’ growth in the share market has also propelled Mukesh Ambani to add $22.3 billion and become the 5th richest person in the world according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Jio Platforms has attracted significant investments from the likes of Google to Facebook Inc. in recent months. The move came as its 63-year-old leader identified technology and retail as future growth areas in a pivot away from the energy businesses which he acquired from his father who died in 2002.
