India's largest private-sector company has formed an artificial intelligence joint venture with Meta Platforms, pooling approximately $800 million in initial capital to develop enterprise AI services for the subcontinent's businesses.
Reliance Industries announced on Friday that its wholly owned AI subsidiary, Reliance Intelligence Limited, has established Reliance Enterprise Intelligence Limited (REIL) in partnership with Meta's Indian operations. The new entity will focus on creating, marketing and distributing AI services tailored for corporate clients.
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The collaboration, first unveiled at Reliance's August annual general meeting, combines the Indian conglomerate's extensive enterprise customer base with Meta's open-source Llama language models. This partnership aims to deliver AI solutions across multiple sectors by offering two principal products: a platform-as-a-service enabling businesses to design and deploy generative AI models, and pre-configured solutions for functions including sales, marketing, IT operations, customer support and finance.
Reliance will leverage its digital infrastructure and access to thousands of Indian small and medium enterprises, whilst Meta contributes technical expertise in developing Llama-based systems. The solutions will operate across cloud, on-premises and hybrid environments, with emphasis on reducing total ownership costs—a crucial consideration for price-sensitive Indian markets.
Regulatory filings indicate that REIL's incorporation required no governmental or regulatory approvals and does not constitute a related party transaction involving Reliance Industries' promoters, promoter group or affiliated companies.
The venture arrives as Mukesh Ambani's sprawling conglomerate continues diversifying beyond its traditional hydrocarbon foundations. Reliance Industries now spans petroleum exploration and refining, petrochemicals, advanced materials, renewable energy including hydrogen and solar, retail operations, and digital services.
The company reported consolidated net profit surging 9.54% to 181.65 billion rupees ($1.7 billion) in the second quarter of fiscal year 2026, with operating revenue climbing 9.94% to 2.59 trillion rupees ($24 billion) compared to the same period the previous year.
For Meta, the partnership represents continued investment in India—a crucial growth market where the company's WhatsApp messaging service claims hundreds of millions of users. Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has previously described India as central to the company's global strategy, particularly as user growth slows in Western markets.
The collaboration also reflects Meta's broader push to monetise its Llama AI models through enterprise partnerships rather than solely consumer applications. While Meta releases Llama as open-source software, commercial arrangements like this joint venture provide revenue streams whilst expanding the technology's adoption.
India's enterprise AI market remains relatively nascent compared to Western counterparts, but growing digital transformation initiatives across sectors from banking to manufacturing create substantial opportunities. The government has promoted artificial intelligence adoption as part of broader technology modernisation efforts, though regulatory frameworks around AI deployment remain under development.
Whether REIL can successfully navigate India's complex enterprise landscape—where price sensitivity, diverse technical capabilities, and varied infrastructure pose challenges—will test both partners' understanding of local market dynamics. Success could establish a template for similar collaborations between global technology giants and Indian conglomerates possessing deep domestic market access.
