Reliance Industries, India's largest company by market value, plans to spend $24 billion over the next ten years in setting up petrochemicals projects in the Middle East, company chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani is reported to have said.
"We plan to set up a number of petrochemical plants in the next decade, with each costing $4-6 billion," the Dubai-based Gulf News quoted Ambani as saying.
Ambani had told a conference in Dubai on Wednesday that building $5 billion petrochemicals plants in the Middle East will be the best way for Reliance, India's biggest producer of chemicals, to meet India's quadrupling demand of chemicals in the next 10 years.
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Reliance wants to tap the growing demand for chemicals in Asia, especially in China and India.
"Dubai will be the gateway to our future investment in this part of the world and beyond," Gulf News quoted Ambani as saying. "We will increase our headcount in Dubai, which will be the nerve centre of our international operations."
Ambani, who had yesterday at the petrochemical conference said that Reliance would aggressively pursue acquisitions as part of a new strategy to grow, told Gulf News his company was not yet ready for big-ticket acquisitions.
"We will need to grow and invest in our own expansion for at least 10 more years, before entering into big-time acquisitions," he was quoted as saying.
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"We have major commitments to the region, which is the hub of the oil and gas sector. We import $30 billion to $40 billion worth of oil, including the bulk from the Gulf, refine it and export gasoline worth $80 billion to Europe and the US," Ambani told Gulf News.
Investing in the Gulf could help the company save costs on transportation and logistics, and in turn help the countries in the region, which are have an acute shortage of refining capacity.
By strengthening the company's position in the Gulf, Ambani said, "We are bringing the Indian market to the Gulf.
The region's bio-diversity creates a great opportunity for us as the region has the wealth and we have the know-how."
"India, China and the Gulf are the future of business," Ambani said. "That's why there is a shift among the Gulf's leadership to focus on India and China instead of Europe and the US. The Gulf region is ready for us and the future growth will come from India and China," the Gulf News reported.
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