Reliance Industries has announced that it will acquire a franchise in Cricket South Africa’s upcoming T20 league. Based in Cape Town, the new franchise will take forward the Mumbai Indians brand and comes close on the heels of acquiring the UAE-based International League T-20 team.
“We are excited to take the Mumbai Indians’ brand of fearless and entertaining cricket to South Africa, a nation that loves cricket as much as we do in India. South Africa has a strong sporting ecosystem, and we look forward to exploring the power and potential of this collaboration. As we grow MI’s global cricketing footprint, we remain committed to spreading joy and cheer through sport,” Nita Ambani, director, Reliance Industries, said.
“With our South African franchise, we now have three T20 teams across three countries. We look forward to leveraging our expertise and depth of knowledge in the cricket ecosystem and brand Mumbai Indians to help build the team and provide fans with some of the best cricketing experiences,” Akash Ambani, chairman, Reliance Jio, stated.
Reliance Industries claims to have played a crucial role in evolving the sports ecosystem through ownership of cricket franchises, football league in India, sports sponsorship, consultancy, and athlete talent management, and bringing in industry best practices. Further, Reliance Foundation Sports – the CSR wing of RIL has been leading India’s Olympic Movement by providing opportunities to athletes across the country to become champions in multiple sports and also leading India’s charge in hosting global sporting events. Earlier this year, Ambani led a successful bid to host the International Olympic Committee Session in Mumbai in 2023 after a gap of 40 years.
Reliance claims to have a consolidated revenue of Rs 7,92,756 crore ($104.6 billion), cash profit of Rs 1,10,778 crore ($14.6 billion), and net profit of Rs 67,845 crore ($9 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2022. Reliance’s activities span hydrocarbon exploration and production, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals, retail and digital services.
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