Reliance Industries and Nita Ambani have been integral in not only building one of the most successful Indian Premier League cricket franchise but have been instrumental in development of sports and sporting infrastructure all over India. Mumbai Indians have been provided top-class facilities for training, coaching and scouting to help them become the joint-most successful IPL team with 5 titles till date.
Led by founder Chairperson Nita Ambani, Reliance Foundation was set up in 2010 to provide impetus to various philanthropic initiatives of Reliance Industries Limited. The efforts of the group have already touched the lives of more than 76 million people across India in more than 55,550 villages and several urban locations.
Apart from Rural Transformation, Health, Education, Disaster Management, Women Empowerment , Arts, Culture & Heritage and Urban Renewal, one of the key focus of Reliance Foundation is ‘Sports for Development’.
Reliance Foundation views sports as a powerful tool to inspire lifelong learning, foster character development, and nurture leadership skills among India’s youth – the future builders of our nation. We believe that when children learn and play, it drives community growth and national prosperity. Beyond empowering young minds through sports, our mission is to create pathways for nurturing future champions.
The Reliance Foundation Sports for Development platform focuses on identifying and cultivating talent from the grassroots level across India. Through comprehensive, multi-dimensional programs, we aim to transform budding athletes into high performers, helping India achieve excellence and set new benchmarks in the world of sports.
Nita Ambani role in building sports in India
In 2016, the Reliance Foundation Youth Sports (RFYS) was launched with aim to lay a strong foundation for India’s sporting future through the development of sports in schools and colleges. This is done through inter-institutional competitions at all levels, scholarships for athletes, grants to institutions for sporting infrastructure as well as provisions for equipment and training of coaches.
RFYS is a prominent scouting platform for sporting talent in the country and has so far reached out to 90 lakh youth and children across 26 states and Union Territories.
Reliance Foundation Young Champs (RFYC) is a premier football academy offering a fully-funded residential program to nurture young talent across India. Established in 2015, it has been recognized by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) as the top residential football academy in the country.
With a world-class training infrastructure and a strong focus on education, RFYC is dedicated to building a solid foundation for developing skilled players, contributing to a brighter future for Indian football.
Nita Ambani passion and ambition of pushing Indian athletes across other sports and building sports at grassroots level
In addition to this we have the RF Jr. NBA initiative which aims to tap into India’s basketball talent by identifying and supporting development of players during the school years. Since its inception in 2013, the programme has engaged with over 1.1 crore (11 million) youth from 13,500 schools nationwide and trained over 13,000 physical education instructors.
The Reliance Foundation Olympics initiative, launched in 2019, aims to enhance India’s performance at the Olympics and other prestigious international events while strengthening the nation’s engagement with the Olympic movement and elevating its sporting profile.
In collaboration with the Odisha Government, Reliance Foundation operates a High-Performance Center (HPC) for Athletics in Bhubaneswar. This center is dedicated to producing world-class athletes through in-house training, fostering medal-winning talent at national and international levels, and advancing athletics in Odisha. The HPC aspires to serve as a national hub for athletics, setting a benchmark for long-term athlete development and elite training programs in the sport.
Under the leadership of its founder Nita Ambani, the Reliance Foundation aims to lead the growth of the Olympic Movement in India. A significant step was taken when a delegation led by Nita Ambani won the bid to host the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Mumbai in 2023.
RIL were also recently principal partners of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) with rights to construct the India House at the 2024 Paris Olympics earlier this year. The IOC session and the India House are aimed to showcase India as one of the top players in the sporting world.
