Reliance Retail, the cash cow for Mukesh Ambani’s RIL, may be hit by the second wave of the pandemic

• ukesh Ambani wants to scale Reliance Retail among the top ten retailers globally.
• Goldman Sachs has valued Reliance Retail at $88 billion and expects it to clock $44 billion in sales by 2025.
• However, the company will continue to be the worst impacted subsidiary of RIL in Q1 of FY22 due to the pandemic.

Reliance Retail continues to be an undisrupted leader in the organised retail segment with a scale that is more than six times the next competitor, Reliance Industries chairperson and managing director Mukesh Ambani had said in the company’s 44th Annual General Meeting held last month. One in every eight Indian shops with Reliance Retail, Asia’s richest man added.
Now, Ambani has set the target to be among the top ten retailers globally in the coming years. He projected a three fold growth for the retail business in the next three-five years. Even analysts believe that Reliance Retail could be among the biggest growth drivers for Reliance Industries Limited in the long run.

But the first quarter of the financial year 2022 (FY22) is not going to be a part of this picture. Analysts believe that Reliance Retail is going to face the worst impact of the second wave of COVID-19 that led to lockdown and restrictions across the country.

According to global financial services group Nomura’s report published on July 19, Reliance Retail’s revenue would drop 23% and EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation] would fall another 30% in April-June quarter compared to the last quarter of FY2021 (January to March).

The company’s EBITDA margin would be at 7.1%, compared to 7.9% in the fourth quarter of the last financial year, due to lower contribution from fashion and lifestyle, the report added.


Reliance Retail had reported a revenue of ₹1,53,818 crore, which is almost a third of Reliance Industries Limited’s ₹5,39,238 crore consolidated revenue. The retail unit reported a post-tax profit of ₹5,481 crore in FY21. The company EBITDA was at an all-time high in the fourth quarter of FY21.





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