Mukesh Ambani offers to invest Rs2,500 cr in Assam, create 80,000 jobs

Reliance Industries will invest Rs2,500 crore in various sectors in Assam, including retail, petroleum, telecom, tourism and sports, creating jobs for at least 80,000 people over the next three years, chairman Mukesh Ambani announced on Saturday

"Today I am happy to announce five commitments for Assam over the next three years. Reliance will invest an additional Rs2,500 crore to augment its presence in this market," he said at the inaugural function of the Global Investors Summit 2018 in Guwahati.

Under this programme, the company will increase the number of Reliance Retail outlet to 40 from the present two and the number of Reliance Petroleum petrol outlets to 165 from the existing 27, he said.

"We are also going to open new offices in all 145 tehsil headquarters across Assam. Our approach has always been to create sustainable livelihood opportunities and have generated 20,000 jobs in Assam," Ambani said.

''Assam has always been a low priority market for other telecom operators, but it is a 'Category A' market for Reliance, he said.

"We now target to increase the sustainable livelihood opportunities by five-fold to 1,00,000 jobs," Ambani said,adding that the company's CSR wing Reliance Foundation will partner Assam government to set up a university centre to promote "wildlife protection and eco-tourism."

"In football, ISL is a huge success in Assam. We have decided to establish a top class football academy in partnership with government of Assam to produce global players from the state," Ambani said.

Reliance Industries has become the largest private sector investor in Assam by putting in Rs 5,000 crore over the last few years, he said.

The company's telecom arm 'Jio' has over 3 million users in Assam and the company is looking to increase it manifold in the coming months, he added.

The Reliance chief complemented both Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal for organising the 'Advantage Assam - Global Investors Summit 2018' and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his visionary leadership and the government's thrust on `ease of living'.

"Assam's development potential is limitless. In 50's, the state was a developed one with its per capita income more than the national average," Ambani noted.