Contract farming, Agricultural land Not In Our Business Interests: Reliance Industries

On Monday, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) said that it has no plans to enter into contracts or corporate farming and has not acquired any agricultural land in India for contract farming, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Reliance said that "It has nothing whatsoever to do with the three farm laws currently debated in the country, and in no way benefits from them."

The conglomerate said, "Reliance Retail Limited (RRL), Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), or any other affiliate of our parent company, i.e., Reliance Industries Limited have not done any corporate or contract farming in the past, and have absolutely no plans to enter this business."
In a petition filed by RIL in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the company sought the  intervention of government authorities to put an end to the vandalisation of mobile towers.

RIL has approached the courts in the light of many cases of vandalism of its cell towers and disruption of telecommunications services in Punjab during the ongoing agitation of farmers against farm laws.

RIL in the statement said that, "These acts of violence have endangered the lives of thousands of its employees and caused damage and disruption to the vital communications infrastructure, sales and service outlets run by its subsidiaries in the two states. Indulging in vandalism have been instigated and aided by vested interests and our business rivals."

RIL further stated that, "We shall insist on our suppliers to strictly abide by the Minimum Support Price (MSP) mechanism, and/or any other mechanism for a remunerative price for farm produce, as may be determined and implemented by the government."

The company said that, "We at Reliance have immense gratitude and the greatest respect for India’s kisans, who are the ‘ANNA DATA’ of 1.3 billion Indians."