The master of action and their big bets | Daily News Byte

2022 just put all the arguments in the bucket as the country’s three biggest companies, led by Reliance, Tata and Adani, embark on their biggest ever spending exercise. The three groups plan to spend at least $215 billion to future-proof themselves over the next five years, according to a review by executives of the three companies.

One effect of the rise of the three conglomerates will be its effect on the index. For now, five Tata companies (TCS, Titan, Tata Consumer, Tata Steel and Tata Motors), two Adani companies (Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone) and Reliance Industries are part of the NSE 50. This should change in the future. Years because some of the businesses of these groups become large and are demerged and listed.

Take the example of Reliance.

Reliance pulled off the biggest surprise when it announced in October that its financial services business would be the first to get listed. Until now, it is believed that the joint venture will withdraw from the list of telecommunication companies or Retail business. Mukesh Ambani has handed over KV Kamath, the doyen of the country’s private sector banks, as chairman of Jio Financial Services although as of now, the group has not set a date when it intends to make the financial services company a separate entity.

But the most ambitious bet from the group focused on oil to gas is to move towards energy projects that cover batteries, hydrogen and solar energy. After making the group debt-free recently, Reliance is determined to rise again, as it intends to spend $75 billion on these new era bets.

It has been an equally difficult year for Tata Sons chairman, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, who has been 5 second year. This year started with the transport of Air India, the flag carrier that caused the loss. At the end of the year, Tata started working on the merger of its other airline, Vistara with Air India. Tata merged 7 steel businesses with Tata Steel.

Tata is also looking to spend the most of all companies: $ 90 billion in the next 5 years, according to Economics. This includes Tata Power’s plan to spend more than $10 billion over the next five years on renewable energy, a $5 billion project to build Giga plants and bets on technology and electronics. Tata intends to build 5G telecom equipment and also improve its play in the semiconductor space.

Two other group companies, Tata Play and Tata Technologies, will go public in the coming years.

Earlier this year, Adani Wilmar became the seventh group company to go public. Then, in the summer, Asia’s richest businessman Gautam Adani agreed to buy Ambuja Cements and ACC from Holcim, the Swiss construction materials giant, for $10.5 billion. The Ahmedabad-headquartered group intends to spend $50 billion on, among other things, green hydrogen.

At present, the enterprises created by domestic production companies are all eyes on the domestic market. country. This is bound to see three groups slugging it out among themselves for the highest. In August, Adani was the surprise bidder at the government auction of 5G bandwidth. Many believe that it could be a highlight in the competition with Reliance in telecom.

Adani’s purchase of nearly 65% ​​of NDTV means that ten companies owned by Gautam Adani are public.

For new businesses, raising capital will be a challenge, in a high interest rate regime. Perhaps, it explains why Adani Enterprises is looking to raise ₹20,000 crore through a follow-up public offering.

Reliance and Tata groups have been increasingly buying startups – from spending on hyperlocal delivery startups to drones – as they look to expand their digital online businesses.

The other challenge is for all bets to be successful. Ambani, Adani and Chandrasekaran are the executioners. But some of these big bets want these leaders to better their historical records.

Can they keep their promises? The jury is out.