Our Bureau
Mumbai
The richest man in India, Mukesh Ambani is reportedly working on a listing of Reliance Retail at a potential valuation nearing $200 billion, as per the sources. While Ambani is working on this, he has also announced the launch of the initial public offer (IPO) of Reliance Industries’ telecom arm Reliance Jio for the coming year (2026).
Reliance Retail is the largest retailer of the country and the Reliance group has already started working on tightening and streamlining it. They have started with demerging the business from its fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) counterpart, Reliance Consumer Products, which will now be a direct subsidiary of Reliance Industries. This is being done to hike up the margins of Reliance Retail so that it can go to the market with a higher valuation.
The demerger of Reliance Consumer is expected to be completed by the end of September, with all regulatory approvals coming through soon. When the demerger from the Reliance Retail finally completes, it will be left with formats such as Reliance Smart, Freshpik, Reliance Digital, JioMart, Reliance Trends, 7-Eleven, Reliance Trends, Reliance Jewels and others.
Even though it is not yet finalised, there are several indications that an imminent public listing of Reliance Retail can be expected in the next two years in 2027, which will be a year after the listing of Reliance Jio. Through this listing, they plan to give their investors like Singapore’s GIC, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Qatar Investment Authority, KKR, TPG, Silver Lake and others an opportunity to exit.
