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.

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

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.

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.

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 CAGs draft report affected RILs shares, making the stock descend by 10.5% by 23 June 2011.

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.

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 proactive 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.

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

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.

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 Staple fibre filament yarn, texturised yarn, twisted/dyed yarn Recron Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Relpet Suitings, shirtings, readymade garments Vimal Ready to switch take away fabric in gift packs Vimal Gifting Ready to swtich take away fabric V2

Polyester :

d) Textiles :

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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 Depreciation of rupee Rise in crude oil prices Environmental degradation Low per capita consumption of polymers Usage of polymers in the medical sector Shift towards gas based production units Improvised marketing offers for polymer buyers Growing investments

Challenges :

Trends :

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 19

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

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)

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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. 22

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 organizations 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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