Mumbai / Bhubaneswar: As COVID-19 disrupted livelihoods, Reliance Industries ensured that not only did it protect livelihoods of its existing workforce but also generated new jobs opportunities for the members of the society. The retail business was the leading job creation vertical hiring over 1,50,000 employees across various functions of the business; this is more than 2x the jobs created in the previous financial year.
Speaking on the financial performance, Gaurav Jain, Head – Strategy & Business Development, Reliance Retail said, “One of the ethos of Reliance Retail is all about inclusive growth and the cornerstone of inclusive growth is about jobs and reskilling of people. It has been an unprecedented period with 150,000 new jobs being added.”
With the addition of over 150000 employees during the 2021-22 financial year the business increased its workforce by more than 70% as compared to the previous year taking its total staff strength to over 361000 employees. In March 2021 the employee strength of Reliance’s retail business was at 208000. In line with the rapid expansion, a high proportion of these jobs will be in the non-metros, the tier 2 / 3 towns and beyond where the business is rapidly expanding its physical store network as well as digital and new commerce platforms. The livelihood opportunities in small towns bring a big relief for job seekers as they continue to reside in their hometowns. Store level and direct store / field operations are absorbing most of the new workforce – indicating that the business has been able to create better, aspirational, and more productive job opportunities for the young and the semi-skilled and not-so-skilled workforce of the country.
While protecting and generating livelihoods, the company continued its focus on the safety and wellbeing of employees and their families during COVID. The safety and health of people was top priority, and the company undertook several initiatives to uphold this principle and safeguard members of the team and their families.
In the financial year 2021-22, Reliance Retail opened 2566 new stores, taking total number of operational stores to 15,196. Total area of operation increased to 41.6 million sq. feet as compared to 33.8 million sq. feet in the previous year, it said while announcing the financial results. In the fourth quarter spanning from January-March 2022, Reliance Retail’s gross revenue stood at Rs. 58,017 crore ($ 7.7 billion), higher by 23.3% while EBITDA for the quarter was Rs. 3,705 crore ($ 489 million), higher by 2.4%. Net Profit for the quarter was Rs. 2,139 crore ($ 282 million).
