Year Ender: Indian Conglomerates Made New Bets to Expand Business Empire in 2024

The year 2024 for Indian conglomerates was marked by entry into new businesses. Indian conglomerates, including Tata Group, Adani Group, Reliance Industries, JSW Group and Aditya Birla Group, have forayed into businesses untapped by them and have expanded their business empires beyond the usual field of trade. 

Conglomerates Open New Wings to Expand Portfolio 

KM Birla-led Aditya Birla Group ventured into consumer business with a launch of Birla Opus Paints and a retail jewellery brand, Indriya with an investment worth Rs 10,000 crore and Rs 5000 crore, respectively. Birla Group’s entry in the paint business is backed government’s push for infrastructure development and the housing for all initiative. 

“Birla Opus should be seen as a scale start-up incubated by the Aditya Birla Group. It uniquely combines the agility, energy and frugality of a start-up with the muscle, reliability and brand strength of a storied and dynamic conglomerate,” said KM Birla, according to a press release. 

Similarly, Gautam Adani-led Adani Group expanded its portfolio and entered the metal industry with an outlay of nearly $1.2 billion in the first phase in March this year. Port-to-power conglomerate announced the setting up of its first copper smelter plant at Mundra in Gujarat in the first phase with a 0.5 million tonne capacity, followed by another plant in Kutch with a 1 million annual capacity in the second phase. 

Additionally, to join the global semiconductor race and give a boost to India’s semiconductor mission, the port-to-power group entered in partnership with Israel’s Tower Semiconductor to set up a $10 billion chip plant in India. 

Joining the race to promote India’s semiconductor ecosystem, the Tata Group too announced a partnership with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC). Speaking at the 20th Vibrant Gujarat Summit in January this year, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran announced the steel-to-salt conglomerate’s decision to build a semiconductor fabrication facility (FAB) in Gujarat’s Dholera. The company has made an investment worth Rs 91,000 crore. 

“Tata Group has a tradition of pioneering many sectors in the country, and we are confident that our entry in semiconductor fabrication will add to this legacy,” said Chandrasekaran, according to a press note. 

Also Read: What Happened to Adani After Hindenburg 2.0? Nearly Nothing

With India making strides towards a green economy, clean vehicles are becoming central to that mission. Sajjan Jindal-led steel-and-energy giant JSW Group has marched forward with nearly $1.8 billion in investment into JSW MG Motor to push EV manufacturing with a target to produce up to 300,000 units per year by 2026 and 1 million by 2030. Moreover, the conglomerate has joined hands with Korea’s POSCO Group to boost manufacturing in steel, battery materials, and renewable energy segments in India. 

“JSW Group has signed a MoU with Korea’s POSCO Group, outlining a framework for collaboration in steel, battery materials, and renewable energy sectors in India,” said the Group in a statement. 

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries too joined clean and green India initiative with an investment worth Rs 75,000 crore in its new energy business. The conglomerate will build five giga factories spread across 5,000 acres in Gujarat’s Jamnagar for Solar PV panels, advanced energy storage batteries, electrolyser, fuel cells and power electronics. 

“By 2025, Jamnagar will also become the cradle of our new energy business. The Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Manufacturing Complex will be the world’s largest, most modern, modular and integrated ecosystem at a single location,” said Mukesh Ambani at the company’s 47th AGM. 

Also Read: Ecosystem for Green Supply Chains Needs to Mature, Says Vineet Agarwal of Transport Corporation of India

Mutual fund market is another untouched business segment that the RIL forayed into this year. Reliance in partnership with American investment giant BlackRock started a joint venture to leverage the asset management giant’s deep expertise in investment and risk management along with Jio Financial Services’ technology and deep market capabilities.  

Recently, the conglomerate acquired a 100 per cent stake in Karkinos Healthcare. According to the Morgan Stanley report, RIL has announced $13 billion in acquisitions with 14 per cent in new energy, 48 per cent in TMT, 9 per cent in retail and more in healthcare in the last five years. 

The conglomerates’ expansion plans aren’t just limited to these ventures. According to a S&P Global Ratings report, “Indian Conglomerates Poised for $800 billion investment push”, the large groups in the country will spend nearly $800 billion on growth in the coming decade. Nearly 40 per cent of the investment will be in new businesses like green hydrogen, clean energy, aviation, semiconductors, electric vehicles (EVs) and data centres. 

“About 40 per cent of Indian conglomerate’ spending over the coming decade will be on new businesses, such as green hydrogen, clean energy, aviation, semiconductors, electric vehicles (EVs) and data centres,” said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Neel Gopalakrishnan in a press release. 

Nearly $350 billion in investment in these segments will be made by the Vedanta, Tata, Adani, Reliance, and JSW groups alone, Gopalakrishnan added.