Anil Ambani, chairman, Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL), charted the future plans of the company and announced the company?s foray into the shipping business. Speaking at the 8th annual general meeting of RNRL, he also told shareholders that the company will set up cement plants at various sites, totaling 20 million tones of capacity.
Ambani said, ?Our focus on exploration and production activities has widened. We continue to evaluate value enhancing upstream opportunities in the hydrocarbon sector. In line with this, we have secured five assets in the country through international competitive bidding in a short span of two years.?
He said the company is at present engaged in offering fuel logistics to the group?s power plants and expanding its portfolio to include coal mining operations for group companies.
?The cost of transportation is a substantial component of the fuel cost. A control over this element will not only make us more competitive but also ensure reliable supply of fuel to our group companies,? said Ambani, adding that RNRL plans to foray into the shipping business on a captive basis, to cater to the group requirements.
He further said that the group has presence across energy, power and infrastructure sectors and manufacturing of cement is a natural progression of its integration strategy.
?Over 40% of the cost of manufacturing cement comes from coal, flyash, limestone and power. Given the business interests of our group, we will have power, coal, and flyash?a by-product of power generation?in great abundance. This gives us a competitive head start,? he noted.