Mumbai, July 20: Strengthening its growing international footprint in cricket, Reliance Industries today announced that it will acquire a franchise in Cricket South Africa’s upcoming T20 league. Based in Cape Town the new franchise will take forward the Mumbai Indians brand and comes close on the heels of acquiring the UAE-based International League T-20 team.
Reliance Industries has played a crucial role in evolving the sports ecosystem through ownership of cricket franchises, football league in India, sports sponsorship, consultancy, and athlete talent management, and bringing in industry best practices. Further, Reliance Foundation Sports – the CSR wing of RIL has been leading India’s Olympic Movement by providing opportunities to athletes across the country to become champions in multiple sports and also leading India’s charge in hosting global sporting events. Earlier this year, Mrs. Ambani led a successful bid to host the prestigious International Olympic Committee Session in Mumbai in 2023 after a gap of 40 years.
Nita Ambani, Director of Reliance Industries, said, “I’m delighted to welcome our new T20 team to the Reliance family! We are excited to take the Mumbai Indians’ brand of fearless and entertaining cricket to South Africa, a nation that loves cricket as much as we do in India! South Africa has a strong sporting ecosystem, and we look forward to exploring the power and potential of this collaboration. As we grow MI’s global cricketing footprint, we remain committed to spreading joy and cheer through sport!”
Akash Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Jio, said, “With our South African franchise, we now have three T20 teams across three countries. We look forward to leveraging our expertise and depth of knowledge in the cricket ecosystem & brand Mumbai Indians to help build the team and provide fans with some of the best cricketing experiences.”
About Reliance Industries Limited:
Reliance is India’s largest private sector company, with a consolidated revenue of INR 792,756 crore ($104.6 billion), cash profit of INR 110,778 crore ($14.6 billion), and net profit of INR 67,845 crore ($9.0 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2022. Reliance’s activities span hydrocarbon exploration and production, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals, retail and digital services.
Reliance is the top-ranked company from India to feature in Fortune’s Global 500 list of “World’s Largest Companies”. The company stands 53rd in the Forbes Global 2000 rankings of “World’s Largest Public Companies” for 2022 – top-most among Indian companies. It features among LinkedIn’s ‘The Best Companies to Work For in India’ (2021). www.ril.com