Business

Reliance Industries History: Timeline From 1958 to 2026

Reliance Industries grew from Dhirubhai Ambani's 1958 trading firm by repeatedly moving into bigger businesses: textiles in 1966, polyester in the 1980s, refin…

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THE TRADER

Dhirubhai Ambani starts trading

After returning from Aden, Dhirubhai Ambani set up Reliance Commercial Corporation, trading yarn and spices from a small Mumbai office.

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TEXTILES

The Naroda mill

A synthetic textile mill at Naroda. Its Vimal fabrics, sold through franchised shops, made Reliance a household name.

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IPO

Reliance goes public

Reliance Textile Industries' issue was oversubscribed seven times. Reliance says it brought small investors across India into the stock market.

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POLYESTER

Patalganga and Hazira

Reliance began making its own polyester yarn at Patalganga, then petrochemicals at Hazira in 1991, so each plant supplied the one before.

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JAMNAGAR

The refinery built in 36 months

Reliance calls it the world's largest grassroots refinery. With a second refinery added in 2008, it is the largest refining complex at one site.

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SUCCESSION

Dhirubhai dies; gas and mobiles

Dhirubhai Ambani died in July. Reliance found gas in the KG-D6 block and launched Reliance India Mobile in December.

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THE SPLIT

Mukesh and Anil divide the group

Mukesh kept Reliance Industries. Telecom, power, financial services and natural resources went to Anil as separate companies.

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RETAIL

The first Reliance Fresh

The first Reliance Fresh opened in Hyderabad. By March 2026 Reliance Retail had 20,160 stores and 387 million registered customers.

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JIO

Jio launches

A data-first 4G network with months of free service. Jio hit 100 million users in about 170 days and made mobile data cheap across India.

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CAPITAL

₹1.68 lakh crore in 58 days

Facebook, Google and 11 other investors bought stakes in Jio Platforms, plus a ₹53,124 crore rights issue. Reliance declared itself net debt free.

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NEW ENERGY

₹75,000 crore for giga factories

Solar, battery, electrolyser and fuel-cell factories at Jamnagar, a 100 GW renewables target for 2030 and net zero by 2035.

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NEXT GEN

Jio Financial and a new board

Jio Financial Services was demerged and listed in August. Isha, Akash and Anant Ambani were named to the Reliance board.

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MEDIA

JioStar is formed

Viacom18 and Star India merged in a ₹70,352 crore venture controlled by Reliance, with Disney as partner.

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NOW

₹11.76 lakh crore and a Jio IPO

FY26 revenue ₹11.76 lakh crore, 524 million Jio users. Jio filed for its IPO in June and SEBI cleared it on 28 August.

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