INDIAN billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries unveiled plans to invest $10 billion (£7.2bn) in renewable energy over the next three years.
Ambani made the announcement on Thursday (24) during a virtual address to shareholders, adding the new business aims to "bridge the green energy divide in India and globally".
India is the world's third-largest emitter of carbon dioxide, according to a study by medical journal The Lancet. The country is struggling to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.
The conglomerate is powered by oil and petrochemicals businesses, but Reliance aggressively diversified into areas including telecoms and retail in recent years.
As part of the green energy push, the company had started developing a manufacturing facility in India's western state of Gujarat.
The project will produce solar energy and green hydrogen that "will put Gujarat and India on the world's solar and hydrogen map", Reliance chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani said.
"I envision a future when our country will be transformed from a large importer of fossil energy to a large exporter of clean solar energy solutions," he added.
Reliance aims to produce 100 gigawatts of solar power by 2030, nearly a quarter of the 450-gigawatt target set by prime minister Narendra Modi.
Ambani also said that Saudi Aramco chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan would join the Reliance Industries Ltd as an independent director.
The appointment will strengthen Reliance's "strategic partnership" with Saudi Aramco, Ambani said.
The two firms are working to finalise a $15bn (£10.8bn) deal that will see the energy giant buy a 20 per cent stake in the Indian company.
