1. INTRODUCTION

The summer internship project, as a part of the course of Bachelor of Business Management of

second year students in Christ University is a great programme for the students to get an exposure

to the real corporate world and its working.

The students are exposed to real world working environment by working under company guides as

interns where a lot of learning takes place along with value addition to the organisation and the

student as well. One gets to learn how the production process takes place, how the management is

done at various levels and learn by getting involved in the working of the organisation.

In the due course of the internship a student gets to learn in the department as chosen for the

specialisation to be done in the final year. By working in the department desired, the student gets a

better understanding and can see if he/she fits into the particular field and where does the actual

interest of the student lies in.

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2. OBJECTIVE OF STUDYING THE ORGANISATION

The core objective of studying Reliance Industries Ltd, as an intern was to get an exposure to the

real world marketing operations and other processes that follow in the corporate world. The

following were the various objectives :

• To get an understanding of the working of a conglomerate company

• To understand the marketing operations of an industrial market

• To get an exposure to the supply chain management operations

• To understand the various functions of the marketing department in particular

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3. OVERVIEW OF THE ORGANISATION

3.1. BRIEF HISTORY

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) (BSE:500325,NSE:RELIANCE,LSE:RIGD) is an Indian

conglomerate company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The company operates

through three business segments: petrochemicals, refining, and oil and gas, other segment of the

company includes textile, retail business, special economic zone (SEZ) development and

telecom/broadband business. RIL is the largest publicly traded company in India by market

capitalisation and is the second largest company in India by revenue behind Indian Oil. It is also

India's largest private sector company by revenue and profit. The company is ranked 134th on

Fortune Global 500 list in 2011.

In October 1997 the Delhi High Court heard a Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) petition

over the award of contracts to Enronand Reliance Industries to develop the Panna-Mukta oilfield,

and issued notices to the involved companies and government organisations. Prashant Bhushan

acted as advocate for CPIL. The petition claimed an inquiry was justified on the basis of testimony

that Reliance had bribed the the minister of petroleum, Satish Sharma, to get the award. According

to a report in Outlook India, at least Rs 4 crore was delivered to the minister in suitcases full of

cash.

In September 2008 Reliance Industries was the only Indian firm featured in the Forbes's list of

"world's 100 most respected companies". In October 2009 a team from the Central Bureau of

Investigation was looking into allegations that V. K. Sibal, the oil regulator, had received favours

from RIL for approving a major increase in the costs for the KG-D6 gas fields. In June 2011 the

Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) issued a draft report on production sharing contracts in the

Krishna Godavari (KG) basin. It concluded that the Petroleum Ministry had acted incorrectly in

letting Reliance claim the whole area. The CAG said "The undue benefit grant to the contractor

(RIL) is huge, but cannot be quantified". In 2010 RIL stood at 13th position in the Platts Top 250

Global Energy Company Rankings.

The Reliance Group, founded by Dhirubhai H. Ambani (1932-2002), is India's largest private sector

enterprise, with businesses in the energy and materials value chain. Group's annual revenues are in

excess of US$ 58 billion. The flagship company, Reliance Industries Limited, is a Fortune Global

500 company and is the largest private sector company in India.

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Backward vertical integration has been the cornerstone of the evolution and growth of Reliance.

Starting with textiles in the late seventies, Reliance pursued a strategy of backward vertical

integration - in polyester, fibre intermediates, plastics, petrochemicals, petroleum refining and oil

and gas exploration and production - to be fully integrated along the materials and energy value

chain.

The Group's activities span exploration and production of oil and gas, petroleum refining and

marketing, petrochemicals (polyester, fibre intermediates, plastics and chemicals), textiles, retail,

infotel and special economic zones.

Reliance enjoys global leadership in its businesses, being the largest polyester yarn and fibre

producer in the world and among the top five to ten producers in the world in major petrochemical

products.

Major Group Companies are Reliance Industries Limited, including its subsidiaries and Reliance

Industrial Infrastructure Limited.

Dhirubhai Ambani founded Reliance as a textile company and led its evolution as a global leader in

the materials and energy value chain businesses.

Reliance Industry is the world's largest polyester producer and as a result one of the largest

producers of polyester waste in the world. In order to deal with this large amount of waste, they had

to create a way to recycle the waste. They operate the largest polyester recycling centre that uses the

polyester waste as a filling and stuffing. They developed an innovative recycling process resulting

in an award in 'Team Excellence'.

Reliance owns world's largest refinery in Jamnagar which is a "zero discharge" refinery. Effluent

treatment plants based on the best available technology processes the waste released and convert

waste in to usable product. Reliance has also planted more than 5 million trees around this refinery

in order to reduce the carbon foot print.

He is credited to have brought about the equity cult in India in the late seventies and is regarded as

an icon for enterprise in India. He epitomized the spirit 'dare to dream and learn to excel'.

The Reliance Group is a living testimony to his indomitable will, single-minded dedication and an

unrelenting commitment to his goals.

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Reliance has more than 3 million shareholders, making it one of the world's most widely held

stocks. Reliance Industries Ltd has continued to grow since its split in January 2006.

On 30 May 2011, Reliance Industry's stock slumped 4% as due to reports that the Central Bureau of

Investigation was probing a former upstream regulator for the company's alleged favouring of

private-sector energy companies. The leaked CAG’s draft report affected RIL’s shares, making the

stock descend by 10.5% by 23 June 2011.

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3.2. NATURE OF THE ORGANISATION

Reliance Industries Ltd., is a conglomerate company. It is involved in various businesses and caters

to a number of industries at once. The Chairman & Managing Director of the company is Shri.

Mukesh D Ambani. The major businesses of Reliance Industries ltd are

• Exploration and Production – crude oil and natural gas

• Refining

• Petrochemicals – Polymers and Polyester and Fibre Intermediates

• Textiles

• Retail

• Special Economic Zones.

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RELIANCE PETROCHEMICALS :

Reliance's philosophy of 'Growth is Life' has truly manifested itself in value creation opportunities

for its myriad stakeholders, which include its valued customers.

The focus on Growth has helped us grow as one of the world's largest producers of polymers. The

2009-10 polymer production (Polypropylene, Polyethylene and Polyvinyl Chloride) is 4,091 kilo

tonnes.

This growth has been achieved with state-of-the-art world scale projects and setting global

benchmarks in product quality, standards and services.

Reliance's sites at Hazira, Vadodara, Gandhar in Gujarat and Nagothane in Maharashtra are

integrated with crackers. The Jamnagar site is integrated with the world class refinery, ensuring

feedstock security at all the sites.

At Reliance the constant endeavour is to provide products and services that meet global standards.

Based on the extensive interaction with the industry, they offer a wide range of grades for diverse

applications across packaging, agriculture, automotive, housing, healthcare, water and gas

transportation and consumer durables.

Superior technologies, strong focus on R&D, latest IT-enabled services to support supply chain

management and the end-to-end solutions offered across the value chain reinforce their commitment

to customer satisfaction.

There's more to Reliance Polymers than just delivering great products. There's an underlying

relationship of mutual trust and cooperation with associates and customers. There's a stringent pro-

active quality control procedure. There's a firm commitment on following Safety, Health &

Environment measures. There's a responsibility towards creating & ensuring a safe and clean

environment.

The ISO-9001-2000/ISO-14001 accreditation has not only ensured providing superior quality

products and services but also fetched several national/international awards beside global approvals

from multinational companies.

The Reliance Hazira QA / QC Laboratories are accredited by National Accreditation Board for

Testing & calibration Laboratories (NABL), Dept. of Science & Technology, Govt. of India for

testing in accordance with ISO / IEC 17025 Standard. This lends credence to the international levels

of competence and quality our products offer to customers worldwide.

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Total Customer Satisfaction, is what we strive for at Reliance. And with Rishta - the 360* customer-

focused approach,Reliance ensures sustainable quality through automated systems, emphasis on

complaint resolution, quality circles and adoption of programs such as "Six Sigma".

At Reliance Polymers there is a commitment to provide Innovative products and services that bring

total satisfaction and considerable value to customers.

At Reliance, their philosophy is to 'be where the customer is'. Their customers are ensured of easy

reach of both their products and services round the clock. This is facilitated through over 150

marketing outlets in India alone, supported by a national network of Regional and Sales offices and

several overseas offices across the globe. The teams of skilled technical and development personnel

are available to provide assistance at every stage.

In order to provide both commercial as well as technical support to their customers, the SAP R3 and

Business Information Warehouse Systems are implemented across all Reliance Polymer plants and

office locations to ensure seamless integration of financial, material, sales and distribution

transactions. The latest IT-enabled services support the management of the polymer supply chain.

Thus, Reliance Polymers is within your instant reach 24x7, 365 days a year.

Currently Reliance Polymer grades are not only well accepted in Indian market but also exported to

more than 60 countries world-wide. Their Exports Business office in Mumbai, India, oversees these

operations supported by overseas stock points and offices in the UK, Turkey, UAE, Indonesia,

Vietnam and China.

Market development team continuously works with OEM, end-users, processors and machinery

manufacturers to promote new applications of Repol Polypropylene which not only improve quality

at optimum cost but also open up opportunity to produce light-weight products for resource

optimization of Mother Nature.

Their technical and development team organize seminars, conferences, Road shows in Rural and

urban India to bring awareness of the benefits of plastics and Repol. Polymer team works hand in

hand with new investors in the field of polymers by offering suitable projects. They are also closely

working with various Nodal agencies for product approval and accreditation.

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Automotive and Appliance: Repol PP grades offer excellent balance of impact and flexural

properties to maximise the benefit of light weight, high stiffness yet break resistant components for

automotive and appliance industries.

Packaging: Repol Polypropylene is an excellent choice for a variety of packaging applications in

the field of Bulk, Rigid and Flexible applications. Contact our development team to identify the

right Repol grade for the new applications in packaging you want to develop for Bulk Packaging,

Rigid Packaging & Flexible Packaging.

Geotextile: Repol PP is suitable for manufacturing both woven and non-woven Geotextiles. Repol

PP Geotextiles are used in infrastructure applications such as filter fabric for erosion control of

River embankment, Geotubes for sea erosion control, Subgrade reinforcement and as pavement

strengthening in Roads.

Nonwoven: Polypropylene Nonwovens has a range of applications from Agriculture to packaging.

Agrotextile applications with Repol benefit the farmers by way of Crop Cover, Fruit Cover, Leno

bags for protection against harsh climate, insects as well as healthy and hygienic packaging. It finds

extensive use in Medical applications like surgical masks gowns and many more.

Building & Construction :Repol is a good fit for plumbing Pipe. Our team also support developing

Chemical Pipes for Paper, Sugar and plastics processing industry.

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Board of Directors

Chairman and Managing Director : Mukesh D. Ambani

Executive Directors : Nikhil R. Meswani

Hital R. Meswani

P.M.S. Prasad

Pawan Kumar Kapil1

Non Executive Directors : Ramniklal H. Ambani

Mansingh L. Bhakta

Yogendra P. Trivedi

Dr. Dharam Vir Kapur

Mahesh P. Modi

Hardev Singh Kohli2

Prof. Ashok Misra

Prof. Dipak C. Jain

Dr. Raghunath A. Mashelkar

Company Secretary : Vinod M. Ambani

Solicitors & Advocates : Kanga & Co.

Auditors : Chaturvedi & Shah

Deloitte Haskins & Sells

Rajendra & Co.

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3.3. BUSINESS VOLUME

Turnover : Rs. 2,58,651 crore ($ 58.0 billion)

PBDIT : Rs. 41,178 crore ($ 9.2 billion)

Cash Profit : Rs. 34,530 crore ($ 7.7 billion)

Net Profit : Rs. 20,286 crore ($ 4.5 billion)

Net Profit 10 year CAGR : 23%Turnover : Rs. 2,58,651 crore ($ 58.0 billion)

PBDIT : Rs. 41,178 crore ($ 9.2 billion)

Cash Profit : Rs. 34,530 crore ($ 7.7 billion)

Net Profit : Rs. 20,286 crore ($ 4.5 billion)

Net Profit 10 year CAGR : 23%

Total Assets : Rs. 2,84,719 crore ($ 63.8 billion)

Significant contribution to India's economic growth :

• 13.4 % of India's total exports

• 6.9 % of the Government of India's indirect tax revenues

• 4.8 % of the total market capitalisation in India

• Weightage of 11.9% in the BSE Sensex

• Weightage of 10.1% in the S&P CNX Nifty Index

Growing Importance across the globe :

• Largest refining capacity at any single location

• Largest producer of Polyester Fibre and Yarn

• 5th largest producer of Paraxylene (PX)

• 5th largest producer of Polypropylene (PP)

• 8th largest producer of Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) and Mono Ethylene Glycol (MEG)

Business Volume of the Polymer division of Bangalore Office :

Total Polymer sold – 2 lakh tonnes per annum

Polypropylene – 1,20,000 tonnes per annum

Polyethylene – 60,000 tonnes per annum

Polyvinyl Chloride – 20,000 tonnes per annum

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3.4. PRODUCT LINE

Reliance Industries Ltd deals with several businesses and the range of major products and brands of

the company are listed as follows :

a) Exploration and production : Crude oil and Natural gas.

b) Refining :

• Liquified petroleum gas (LPG) – Reliance gas.

• Propylene

• Naptha

• Gasoline

• Jet/Aviation turbine fuel – Reliance aviation

• Superior kerosene oil

• High speed diesel

• Sulphur

• Petroleum coke

c) Petrochemicals :

Polymers :

• Polypropylene (PP) – Repol

• Polyethylene (HDPE, LLDPE, LDPE) – Relene

• Ethylene Vinyl Acetate Copolymer (EVA) – Relene EVA

• Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) – Reon

• Poly-Olefin (HDPE & PP) Pipes – Relpipe

• Poly Butadiene Rubber (PBR) – Cisamer

• Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB) – Relab

Polyester :

• Staple fibre filament yarn, texturised yarn, twisted/dyed yarn – Recron

• Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) – Relpet

d) Textiles :

• Suitings, shirtings, readymade garments – Vimal

• Ready to switch take away fabric in gift packs – Vimal Gifting

• Ready to swtich take away fabric – V2

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e) Retail :

• Organised retail – Reliance retail

• Food & Grocery speciality store – Reliance fresh

• Mini hypermarket – Reliance super

• Hypermarket – Reliance Mart

• Electronics speciality store – Reliance Digital

• Exclusive apple store – iStore

• Apparel speciality store – Reliance trends

• Health, wellness and pharma speciality store – Reliance wellness

• Footwear speciality store – Reliance Footprint

• Jewellery speciality store – Reliance jewels

• Books, music, toys and gift speciality store – Reliance Timeout

• Furniture, furnishing and homeware speciality store – Reliance living

• Automotive services & products speciality store – Reliance Autozone

• Iconic Italian lifestyle brand – Diesel

• Authentic outdoor footwear and apparel brand – Timberland

• Italian luxury men's clothing brand – Ermenegildo Zegna

• Outdoor sports lifestyle brand – Roxy

• Fashion forward footwear and accessories brand for women – Steve Madden

• The finest toys in the world – Hamley's

• Office needs, office supplies and stationary store – Office Depot

• Optical speciality store – Vision express

• Transportation fuels – Reliance petroleum retail

• Fleet management services – Reliance Trans-connect

• Highway hospitality services – A1 Plaza

• Vehicle care services – R-care

• Convinience shopping – Qwik Mart

• Foods – Refresh

• Auto LPG

• Petroleum retail – GAPCO

• Lubricants – Relstar

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Product flow chart :

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3.5 INDUSTRY OVERVIEW – POLYMER MARKET IN 2012

Indian Petrochemical industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world. Low operating

capacities in Indian petrochemical concerns bring with it the opportunity for future facility

utilization. Polymer market is dependent on growth in related sectors. Low per capita consumption

of polymer offers opportunities for domestic manufacturers to meet the rising domestic demand for

polymers.

Indian Petrochemical industry is considered to be growing at a 1% CAGR. India is considered as

one of the fastest growing manufacturers of polymers. This has led to increased costs of imports

creating opportunities for domestic players to generate high revenues.

Drivers of this growth :

• Demand from packaging industry

• Growth in associated manufacturing sectors

• Increase in usage of polymer products in agriculture

Challenges :

• Depreciation of rupee

• Rise in crude oil prices

• Environmental degradation

• Low per capita consumption of polymers

Trends :

• Usage of polymers in the medical sector

• Shift towards gas based production units

• Improvised marketing offers for polymer buyers

• Growing investments

Indian polymer industry is extremely capable of exporting polymers as many petrochemical majors

still operate at low capacities. Per capita consumption of polymer in India is at 2 kg compared to

3kg in US and China with 4 kg. Major forms of polymers are polyethylene polypropylene,

polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride. Polymer finds its usage in a variety of sectors like packaging,

agriculture and plastics. Increase of crude oil prices have affected the polymer industry in India

negatively.

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3.6 PETROCHEMICALS SECTOR ANALYSIS

Petrochemicals, as the name suggests, are chemicals obtained from the cracking of petroleum

feedstock. Petrochemicals are used in many manufacturing fields. The industry is built on small

number of basic commodity chemicals, also known as building blocks such as ethylene, propylene,

butadiene, benzene, toluene and xylene. Ethylene, propylene and butadiene are commonly referred

to as olefins, while benzene, toluene and xylene are known as aromatics. Together, they form the

basis of all petrochemical products. The broad product segments of the industry include basic

petrochemicals, polymers, polyesters, fibre intermediaries and chemicals.

Petrochemicals production process consists of primarily two stages. In the first stage naphtha,

produced by refining crude oil or natural gas is used as a feedstock and is cracked. Cracking

(breaking of long chain of hydrocarbon molecule) produces olefins and aromatics. In stage two,

these building blocks are polymerized (made to undergo chemical processes) to produce

downstream petrochemical products (polymers, polyesters, fibre intermediaries and other industrial

chemicals.

The industry is oligopolistic in nature with four main players dominating the sector noticeably

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Indian petrochemicals Corporation Ltd (IPCL), Gas Authority of

India Ltd (GAIL) and Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL). RIL, along with IPCL, accounts for 70%

of the petrochemical capacity in the country. However, the downstream petrochemical sector,

especially polyester, is highly fragmented with more than 40 companies. This fragmented structure

adversely affects the health of the industry.

Petrochemical industry is a cyclical industry.Globally, the petrochemical industry is characterized

by sluggish demand and volatile feedstock prices. India's current per capita consumption of

polyester is 1.4 kg, whereas China's and global per capita consumption is five times and three times

higher respectively. Similarly, the 5 kg per capita consumption of polymers in India is one-fifths for

the entire world. India accounts for 3.1% of the total world polymer consumption of 200 mtpa.

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1. Supply : Supply currently outstrips demand. In India, as refineries are expanding capacity

leading to increase in production of naphtha, we believe it's going to increase further.

2. Demand : Demand of the petrochemicals generate from the downstream industries, which in turn

are dependent on the state and growth of the economy. Indian economy is poised to grow 9.2% for

the next few years. Thus, the demands for the petrochemical products are bound to be on the higher

end.

3. Barriers to entry : The petrochemical industry is capital-intensive by nature. The minimum

economic size of an integrated plant is around 1 million tonnes per annum, which in turn calls for

huge investments.

4. Bargaining power of suppliers : Moderate to low, despite the surplus naphtha production in the

country, bargaining power of suppliers seems to be moderate. This is due to the fact that the

suppliers are concentrated. However, going forward, integration is a ‘mantra' for the oil refining

companies.

5. Bargaining power of customers : Moderate to low, the downstream user industry is fragmented,

which reduces their collective bargaining power. Import duties on the products have declined

significantly over the past and with additional capacities coming up in the Middle East the

bargaining power of the customers might improve to an extent.

6. Competition : Competition within the domestic market is limited, as there are only a handful of

players with world-class capacities. However, with reduction in duties, there is threat of imports

from Middle East and the Asia Pacific region, which is going to increase the competition. Also, the

refineries are getting integrated, which will reduce the industry concentration in terms of market

share and in turn fuel competition.

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Current scenario and prospects :

• Government has put in place a national policy on petrochemicals and has initiated steps to

create mega integrated complexes called petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals

investment regions (PCPIRs). These PCPIRs will be set up in a 2,000 sq km area with an

estimated investment of $280 bn. As 100% FDI is permissible in chemical industry, this

should provide a boost to the sector. It is expected that domestic petrochemical sector will

double its production capacity in next four five years.

• Currently, R&D expenses of the industry are about Rs 2.2 bn (1% of the overall industry's

turnover). With an approximate cost of Rs 4.4-6.6 bn, Government has provided for a policy

of generating R&D centres for modernisation of the petrochemical industry. With this

format, the government is aiming at a low-priced high-return involvement in the

petrochemical segment, via public-private-partnership (PPP), to market the development of

new applications of polymers and plastics, by establishing such centres of excellence

(CoEs).

• Operating rates are expected to bottom out in 2010. Demand in Asia, especially in India and

China is expected to remain high leading to high cotton prices and stable margins from

polyester products. This, along with project delays by Middle East could lead to the next

super cycle in coming years.

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4.ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

4.1. MAIN OFFICES

Major Plant Locations :

• Dahej

P. O. Dahej,

Bharuch - 392 130

Gujarat, India

• Gadimoga

Tallarevu Mandal

East Godavari District

Gadimoga – 533 463

Andhra Pradesh, India

• Hazira

Village Mora, P.O. Bhatha

Surat-Hazira Road

Surat 394 510,

Gujarat, India

• Jamnagar

Village Meghpar / Padana,

Taluka Lalpur

Jamnagar 361 280

Gujarat, India

• Jamnagar SEZ Unit

Village Meghpar / Padana,

Taluka Lalpur

Jamnagar 361 280

Gujarat, India

• Nagothane

P. O. Petrochemicals

Township, Nagothane

Raigad - 402 125,

Maharashtra, India

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• Patalganga

B-4, Industrial Area,

P.O. Patalganga 410 220

Near Panvel, Dist. Raigad

Maharashtra, India

• Vadodara

P. O. Petrochemicals

Vadodara - 391 346,

Gujarat, India

Registered Office :

3rd Floor, Maker Chambers IV

222 Narimen Point, Mumbai – 400 021, India

Tel : +91 22 2278 5000

Fax : +91 22 2278 5111

email : investor_relations@ril.com

website : www.ril.com

Bangalore Regional Office :

62/2, 2nd Floor

Victoria Circle,

Richmond Road

Bangalore – 560025.

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4.2 MARKETING OPERATIONS

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MV PRASAD (Regional Manager)

RAGHUNAND KRISHNAN(Product Head - PP)

SUBRATA SARKAR(Product Head - PE/PVC)

RAMAN JP(Territory Manager)

SABU NINAN(Territory Officer)

SHALINI KAMATH(Logistics Officer)

KP RAJESH(Logistics Officer)

5. STRUCTURE OF THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT

5.1 PROFILE OF EMPLOYEES

• MV Prasad – Regional Manager

• Raghunand Krishnan – Product Head (Polypropylene)

• Subrata Sarkar – Product Head (Polyethylene/Polyvinyl Chloride)

• Raman JP – Territory Manager

• Sabu Ninan – Territory Officer

• Shalini Kamath – Logistics Officer

• KP Rajesh – Logistics Officer

5.2 MARKETING OPERATIONS

• The primary function of the marketing department is to enhance sales volume as the

Bangalore Office is primarily a sales office.

• There are two main aspects under sales volume – Organic Sales and Inorganic Sales.

• Organic sales is where the main focus of the department is whereas inorganic sales is a

secondary function of the marketing department.

• Enhancement of organic sales comprises of three parts to be taken care of – Sales

planning, Customer management and Supply chain management.

• Sales planning goes hand in hand along with customer management and supply chain

management.

• Customer management includes building up contacts with the customers to get various

information and new customers which in turn enhances the trade, and also meeting the

requirements of the customers to maintain a long term relationship between the customer

and the company.

• Supply chain management is the clerical part of maintaining organic sales volume. Some

of the functions under supply chain management includes – Coordinate with the Head

Office, Get required grades of polymer as per the plan and ensure customer gets the

product as per the planned quantity and as per his/her requirement.

• The secondary function of the marketing department is to take care of the inorganic sales

which mainly includes business development analysis to get new sales by developing

new applications and new horizons to the polymer industry.

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6. FUNCTIONS OF THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT

6.1 MARKETING STRATEGY :

• The marketing strategy of Reliance Petrochemicals is driven by a number of factors as it

is a conglomerate company and the process is channelised through various levels. In the

polypropylene sector, 80% of the market is held by raffia which mainly includes –

woven sacks, plastic woven fabric and Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers (FIBC).

• The strategies adopted by the marketing department is different as polymer is an

industrial product and is different from the trending marketing strategies of consumer

goods or FMCG products.

• The different steps adopted by the marketing department primarily depend on the

ongoing international market trends in the polymer market.

• Second, it is also driven by the floating exchange rates between different countries.

• One of the main drivers of the marketing strategy is the demand supply gap. In this

demand supply cycle, the two major roles are played by the raw material producer (RIL)

and the customer who makes a productive usage of the raw material. The entire

production process is based on this demand-supply cycle and the disequilibrium between

the two is referred to as demand supply gap.

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6.2 PRODUCTION PLANNING, DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT :

The production planning is done based on the demand supply trend in the market. The main concept

adopted is supply chain management. Supply Chain Management is the management of upstream

and downstream relationships between suppliers and customers to deliver the best value to the

customer at the least cost to the demand chain as a whole. Supply chain management software tools

bridge the gap between the customer relationship management and the demand chain management.

The organization’s supply chain processes are managed to deliver best value according to the

demand of the customers.

One of the factors that affects the production process is the seasonality in business. Some sectors

(not the end users) have a seasonality in business which in turn is in direct co relation with the raw

material production and demand. Thus, seasonality plays a vital role in the production process.

Product development and management is an aspect of the inorganic sales function of the

organisation. It mainly focuses on the development of newer applications of the existing products

and to use the raw material of polymer in newer environment friendly application to open up new

horizons. It deals with the planning of the efficient use of plastic as a product due to constant

opposition from government and other environmental organisations, though the per capita

consumption of plastic in India is 2kg as compared to larger numbers in developed countries like

China and USA. The development and management activities are the secondary functions of the

marketing department as it is part of the inorganic sales.

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6.3 PRICING STRATEGY :

Pricing strategies in an industrial product market like a polymer market is comparatively difficult

than a consumer product market. The two pricing methods adopted by Reliance petrochemicals are

as follows :

• Benchmarking with international prices : In this method, the organisation tracks down

international prices of the same product in accordance with quality, grades etc and the prices

of the domestic product is benchmarked with international prices so that it maintains an

equilibrium of prices internationally especially in order to maintain good exports.

• Port-based pricing : This is an internationally accepted pricing concept adopted by many

other organisations like Reliance Industries Ltd. It mainly looks at the aspect of pricing

based on the location. The prices of the product are location oriented and the freight and

transportation charges of the raw material to the particular location affect the prices of the

product. It mainly looks at the locational proximity to the port and the pricing is done

accordingly.

• Imports : At Reliance Industries Ltd, at times the pricing is affected by the number of

imports so as to maintain a marginal level of profit in business. The export valuation is

maintained at a level higher than the import valuation level.

• Raw material pricing : The prices of the raw material play a vital role in the pricing of the

product at Reliance Industries Ltd.

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6.4 DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY :

The distribution of the product goes through various processes at Reliance petrochemicals. A brief

of the entire process is given below.

• The produced material is primarily available at two locations of Reliance petrochemicals –

depot and plant.

• Depot is something like a store, where a customer can buy a minimum of even one single

bag of material which is 25 kgs.

• To avail material from the store, the minimum order level is higher than that of 25 kgs.

• The customers register themselves under a company or a private firm/agent which is known

as the del creder agent (DCA) who is an intermediate between the customer and the

organisation.

• The customer needs to place the order to DCA in order to get his material.

• The DCA provides a security deposit amount with Reliance, and avails material within a

certain limit.

• Once a customer places an order to the DCA, the DCA will check his limit and accordingly

place an order to Reliance through the SAP technologies software and once the order is

placed by the DCA, it is moved to the logistics department.

• The logistics department, checks with the DCA limit and other required documents and

requirements and once it is verified the order is dispatched.

• A master file of the customer can be created with Reliance Industries once the documents

and required papers (Excise papers etc) are forwarded by the DCA and it is verified by the

department and thus a master file is created.

• The entire process of placing an order to dispatch of material takes place online through

SAP software and management information system.

(Note : This is not the exact procedure of the distribution of material. It is just a brief summary of

the total process for an understanding purpose. The actual procedure is a little more in depth to the

one given above.)

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6.5 PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY :

Since polymer is an industrial product and the customer of the products are mainly manufacturers or

converters and not the end users, there is not much of promotional activity taken up in this field. But

some incentive schemes are given at time for a clearance sale of stock acquired at the plant and

depot.

Another form of a promotional activity is Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which is created

to safeguard the interest of the supplier and customer in uncertain situations in the market and

business.

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7. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

7.1 SUCCESS AND FAILURE ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT PRODUCTS :

In Karnataka region, Reliance polymers is the market leader in all three of its primary products –

polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride. Reliance is undoubtedly the most successful

organisation in this sector. It is the biggest private firm to do business in such a huge volume in

India.

The various successful products of Reliance under polymer division are :

• Repol – Polypropylene

• Relene – Polyethylene

• Reon – Polyvinyl Chloride

7.2 MAJOR COMPETITORS IN THE MARKET

The major competitors in the Karnataka region are as follows :

• Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd – Polypropylene and Polyethylene

• Indian Oil Corporation – Polypropylene and Polyethylene

• GAIL India Ltd – Polyethylene

• Finolex Group – Polyvinyl Chloride

• Chemplast Sanmar Ltd – Polyvinyl Chloride

➢ Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) : Haldia Petrochemicals is the second largest

petrochemical industry in India with a total capacity equivalent to 7, 00,000 TPA of

ethylene. It was formed out of a joint venture between Government of West Bengal, The

Chatterjee Group, TATA Group and Indian Oil Corporation in 1994. The first commercial

production started in 2001. The factory complex is located in Haldia, in the Purba Medinipur

district of West Bengal, India.

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➢ Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) : Indian Oil Corporation Limited, or IndianOil, is an Indian

state-owned oil and gas corporation with its headquarters in New Delhi, India. The company

is the world's 98th largest public corporation, according to the Fortune Global 500 list, and

the largest public corporation in India when ranked by revenue. IndianOil and its

subsidiaries account for a 47% share in the petroleum products market, 34% share in

refining capacity and 67% downstream sector pipelines capacity in India. The IndianOil

Group of Companies owns and operates 10 of India's 21 refineries with a combined refining

capacity of 65.7 million metric tons per year. The President of India owns 78.92% (1.9162

billion shares) in the company. In FY 2011 IOCL sold 64.1 million tons of petroleum

products and reported a PBT of 90.96 billion, and the Government of India earned an

excise duty of 257.899 billion and tax of 16,500 million. It is one of the five Maharatna

status companies of India, apart from Coal India Limited, NTPC Limited, Oil and Natural

Gas Corporation and Steel Authority of India Limited.

IndianOil operates the largest and the widest network of fuel stations in the country,

numbering about 19,463 (15,946 regular ROs & 3,517 Kissan Sewa Kendra). It has also

started Auto LPG Dispensing Stations (ALDS). It supplies Indane cooking gas to over 62.4

million households through a network of 5,456 Indian distributors. In addition, IndianOil's

Research and Development Center (R&D) at Faridabad supports, develops and provides the

necessary technology solutions to the operating divisions of the corporation and its

customers within the country and abroad.

➢ GAIL India Ltd : GAIL (India) Limited is the largest state-owned natural gas processing

and distribution company headquartered in New Delhi, India.It has six segments:

Transmission services of natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), Natural gas trading,

petrochemicals, LPG and Liquid hydrocarbons, GAILTEL and Others. The company was

previously known as Gas Authority of India Ltd. It is India's principal gas transmission and

marketing company. It was set up by the Government of India in August 1984 to create gas

sector infrastructure. GAIL commissioned the 2,800 km Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur (HVJ)

pipeline in 1991. During 1991-93, three liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plants were

constructed and some regional pipelines acquired, enabling GAIL to begin its gas

transportation in various parts of India. GAIL began its city gas distribution in New Delhi in

1997 by setting up nine compressed natural gas (CNG) stations. In 1999, GAIL set up

northern India's only petrochemical plant at Pata.

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➢ Finolex Group : Finolex Group is a private sector conglomerate based in Pune, India. The

Finolex Group comprises Finolex Cables Ltd., Finolex Industries Ltd., Finolex J-Power

Systems Ltd. and Finolex Plasson Industries Ltd. The early nineties saw the Finolex Group

expanding into new business domains to manufacture Optic Fibre Cables and Copper Rods.

Today the Group turnover exceeds Rs.30 Billion (about US $ 750 million). Finolex Cables

Ltd (FCL) and Finolex Industries Ltd (FIL) are the two group companies whose equity

shares are listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange. Global

Depository Receipts of Finolex Cables Limited are also listed on the Luxembourg Stock

Exchange. Professionally managed, with continuous updating of technology and strict

quality controls, Finolex strives for maximum customer satisfaction. Over the years, it has

attained a significant position on the industrial map of India.

➢ Chemplast Sanmar Ltd - Chemplast Sanmar Limited is a chemical company based in

Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is part of Sanmar Group which has businesses in Chemicals,

Shipping, Engineering and Metals. It has a turnover of over Rs.45 billion and a presence in

some 25 businesses, with manufacturing units spread over numerous locations in India.

Chemplast Sanmar's manufacturing facilities are located at Mettur, Panruti, Cuddalore and

Ponneri in Tamil Nadu, Shinoli in Maharashtra, and Karaikal in the Union Territory

ofPondicherry. It is a major manufacturer of PVC resins, chlorochemicals and piping

systems. The Cuddalore PVC project commissioned in September 2009 is the largest such

project to come up in Tamil Nadu. It's aggregate capacity of 235,000 tons makes it one of

the largest PVC players in India. Chemplast Sanmar Limited won two awards, at the 7th

National Award for Excellence in Water Management organized by the CII in Hyderabad in

December 2010. The flagship company of The Sanmar Group won the “Innovative Case

Study” and “Excellent Water Efficient Unit” awards for the successful case study of zero

liquid discharge at Mettur. Chemplast Sanmar, a pioneer in Zero Liquid Discharge has

implemented this process successfully in all its manufacturing plants. Chemplast has not

discharged a single drop of treated effluent since September 2009 in Mettur while in

Cuddalore and Karaikkal there has been no discharge since inception.

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7.3 MARKET SHARE OF RELIANCE AND VARIOUS COMPETITORS

The break up of the market share of Reliance Industries Ltd compared to various competitors in the

Karnataka region in the polypropylene and polyethylene division are as follows :

a) Polypropylene :

• Reliance Industries Ltd – 81%

• Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd - 4%

• Indian Oil Corporation - 5 %

• Imports – 10%

b) Polyethylene :

• Reliance Industries Ltd – 34%

• Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd – 9%

• GAIL India Ltd – 20%

• Indian Oil Corporation – 17%

• Imports - 20%

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