Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani. Two billionaires, one green ambition

Mukesh Ambani’s rivals should be relieved, though perhaps not too much. The petrochemicals czar has just told shareholders that he’s undertaking his life’s “most challenging” mission by investing 750 billion rupees ($10 billion) in clean power and fuel over three years.

It doesn’t appear to be a big capital commitment from India’s most powerful businessman, certainly not when he’s just raised $44 billion of capital during a pandemic, and made the $180 billion balance sheet of his flagship Reliance Industries Ltd. free of net debt.

But these are still early days for a decisive change in the energy mix of India’s largely coal-fueled economy. Ambani’s plans could easily turn as aggressive as his 4G telecom venture, initially dismissed by naysayers as a me-too entry into a crowded field of a dozen players.