MPW 2023: How Isha Ambani is ensuring Reliance Retail’s dominance continues

With revenue of Rs 2.6 lakh crore, Reliance Industries Ltd’s retail business, Reliance Retail, is a leader in the space by some distance. Interestingly, its revenue continues to grow on a large base—in fact, it grew by 30 per cent over the last fiscal. And at the helm is Isha Ambani, its Director, who has given the business a big push from the time she came aboard in 2014.

From moving into new formats to bringing in world-class brands, and making strategic acquisitions to raising huge amounts of funding, Ambani, who holds an MBA from Stanford University, is hungry for more growth. And the opening of the Jio World Plaza, the country’s largest luxury mall, is a clear indication of the company’s growth plans under the watchful eye of Ambani, who recently joined RIL’s board as Director. Driven by the inherent belief that India provides a lot of room to grow, Reliance Retail has added 3,000 stores, or an additional 20 million sq. ft in FY23, bringing the total store count to above 18,000.

And with the scale that the Reliance group brings to any business it steps into, the disruption in the retail sector is real, and at several levels. Take the case of the traditional kirana stores, and how Reliance Retail is leveraging technology to track and understand consumer behaviour better. This has enabled the company to help shopkeepers optimise their shelf space, which in turn is leading to increased sales.

Besides, having created its own portfolio of brands across categories, the company has clearly outlined its intention of cornering a large chunk of the fast-moving consumer goods pie. That opens up an altogether new opportunity, and another royal battle for a share of the consumer’s wallet. With its scale and ability to invest, it’s not hard to understand why Ambani is so confident about the future.