The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd has inked pacts with US-based tech giants Google and Meta for its venture into the artificial intelligence domain, and plans to take its telecom arm Jio public in what could be India’s biggest IPO yet.

The announcements came at the 48th annual general meeting of the company, India’s largest enterprise by market value, which featured addresses by the bosses of Google and Meta, Sundar Pichai and Mark Zuckerberg.

The event, which took place virtually, comes at a time when Reliance’s core business, oil to chemicals, has come under intense scrutiny from the Donald Trump administration.

Hours before Ambani and his family members — sons Akash and Anant, daughter Isha and wife Nita — addressed the RIL shareholders, Peter Navarro, senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing to the US President, took an oblique potshot at the company.

Continuing with his criticism of India for buying Russian crude oil, which
he claims is funding Moscow’s war in Ukraine, Navarro wrote on X: “The proceeds flow to India’s politically connected energy titans — and directly into Putin’s war chest.”

RIL is one of the largest importers of Russian crude to India.

Speaking on a virtual screen, Ambani betrayed no unease at the geopolitical situation and reaffirmed his mantra: “What is good for India is good for Reliance.”

The company said the AI venture — for which a wholly owned subsidiary, Reliance Intelligence, has been set up — will leverage the future demand for AI infrastructure and services in India.

Ambani said Reliance Intelligence had been created with four clear missions: to house India’s next-generation AI infrastructure in gigawatt-scale AI-ready data centres, house global partnerships, build AI services tailor-made for India’s unique requirements, and promote and nurture talent for AI.

“A decade ago, digital services became a new growth engine for Reliance. Now, the opportunity before us with AI is just as large, if not larger,” Ambani, chairman and managing director of RIL, said.

“Jio promised and delivered digital everywhere and for every Indian. Similarly, Reliance Intelligence promises to deliver AI everywhere for every Indian.”

Part of the AI drive includes an India-focused joint venture with Meta, the parent of Facebook and Instagram, to harness the power of open-source AI.

“Meta and Reliance are going to deliver our open-source AI models to Indian businesses to help them fuel their work,” Zuckerburg, whom Ambani addressed as “dear friend”, told the AGM.

“With Lama, we have seen how AI can amplify human potential, boosting productivity, inspiring creativity, and accelerating innovation. And now, with Reliance’s reach and scale, we can bring this to every corner of India.”

The partnership with Google will leverage Mountain View, the California-based tech giant’s cloud service, to empower Indian developers, startups and enterprises.

“Google and Reliance are partnering to help all of Reliance’s businesses transform, using AI – from energy and retail to telecom and financial services,” Pichai, the Google CEO, informed the RIL shareholders in his address.

“To support this AI adoption, together we are establishing a Jamnagar Cloud region, built for and dedicated to Reliance. It will bring world-class AI and computes from Google Cloud, powered by clean energy from Reliance, and connected by Jio’s advanced network.”

Jio IPO

Ambani set a timeline for the Jio IPO. “Jio is making all arrangements to file for its IPO. We are aiming to list Jio by the first half of 2026, subject to all necessary approvals,” he said.

“I assure you that this will demonstrate that Jio is capable of creating the same quantum of value like our global counterparts. I am sure that it will be a very attractive opportunity for all investors.”

The IPO is going to unlock value for shareholders and can potentially create a new behemoth on the bourses. Backed by global investors including Meta, Google and KKR, it has been central to Ambani’s push to diversify Reliance beyond oil and chemicals into consumer, retail and technology.

Brokerage firm Jefferies had valued Jio, which has crossed 50 crore subscribers in its 10th year of operations, at $136 billion (₹1,196,800 crore) in a note in April.

RIL holds a 66.3 per cent stake in Jio while Meta and Google hold 10 per cent and 7.7 per cent, respectively.