Reliance Industries, led by industrialist Mukesh Ambani, has bought a 26 percent stake in a power project in Madhya Pradesh of its rival businessman Gautam Adani’s company Adani Power. This is the first time that any kind of alliance has taken place between the two rival billionaire industrialists. Reliance Industries has signed an agreement to use 500 MW of power of the plant itself (captive use).
In separate information given to the stock exchange, both the companies said that Reliance will buy five crore equity shares of face value of Rs 10 (Rs 50 crore) in Mahan Energen Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Power Limited, and will use 500 MW generation capacity for private use.
These two Gujarati industrialists have often been pitted against each other by the media and critics. However, both the industrialists have been circling each other for years to reach the top two positions in the list of Asia’s richest people.
While Ambani’s interests range from oil and gas to retail and telecom, Adani’s focus is on infrastructure, from ports to airports, coal and mining. The two businessmen have rarely crossed each other’s paths, except in the clean energy sector, in which both industrialists have announced investments worth several billion rupees.
The Adani Group aspires to become the world’s largest renewable energy producer by 2030, while Reliance is building four gigafactories in Jamnagar, Gujarat. One each for solar panels, batteries, green hydrogen and fuel cells.
The Adani Group is also setting up three gigafactories to manufacture solar modules, wind turbines and hydrogen electrolysers.
A clash was also predicted when the Adani Group applied to participate in the auction of spectrum capable of carrying fifth-generation (5G) data and voice call services. However, unlike Ambani, Adani bought 400 MHz of spectrum in the 26 GHz band, which is not meant for public networks.
On the contrary, the two have been far from at odds. In 2022, a company with former ties to Ambani sold its stake in news broadcaster NDTV to Adani, clearing the way for the acquisition.
Gautam Adani was also present at the pre-wedding ceremonies of Ambani’s younger son Anant in Jamnagar earlier this month.
