The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) is in the headlines these days due to the Rafale Deal controversy. Let's take a look details about some of the group companies, and prominent projects that these firms were awarded during the UPA Government's rule between 2004 and 2014.

Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra)

The company was earlier known as Reliance Energy between 2002 and 2008. During those days, its primary business was power transmission. Currently, it is involved in infrastructure development, defense projects, as well as power generation and distribution through its subsidiaries.

RInfra often made it in the headlines during 2006-2011 after winning 11 big road development projects from the government. It was known as the nation's largest private sector road developer back then. Some of the prominent expressways and highways that the firm constructed are the Delhi-Agra project, Salem-Ulundurpet Road construction, Pune-Satara Road Project, Namakkal-Karur Road construction, etc.

Besides the above, the company's most ambitious project happens to be the Mumbai Metro Rail Line-1. It was awarded to Reliance Infra in 2007 by the then Congress-NCP Government in Maharashtra.

RInfra's subsidiary, Reliance Airport Developers Private Limited has been handling airport infrastructure development work since more than a decade. In August 2009, the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party-led Maharashtra Government had chosen the same firm to develop Baramati, Yavatmal, Nanded, Osmanabad, and Latur airport at the cost of Rs 63 crore. Congress President Rahul Gandhi recently tagged this company as a shell firm. He undoubtedly remains ill-advised; his government had selected the same company for developing airports.

RInfra acquired shares in Pipavav Defense and Offshore Engineering Co. Ltd in 2015 and renamed it as Reliance Naval and Engineering Limited. It has been in the headlines since then.

Reliance Communications (RCom)

RCom offered CDMA and GSM mobile phone services in India between 2002 to December 2017. It happens to be one of the telecom companies that shut down operations due to their inability to survive after Jio's entry. Currently, this firm offers IT and data center services to its B2B customers. However, RCom has handled several important center and state government projects during the UPA rule.

In August 2012, the company had bagged multi-year contract(s) to provide IT infrastructure, including data center, to various departments of Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, as well as the Department of Post. It was also a part of the consortium led by HCL Infosystems that bagged Rs 300 crores worth of contract from Aadhaar (UIDAI) for providing network and telecom support in March 2012.

Reliance Capital

The firm offers wealth management, general and life insurance, mutual funds trading service, commercial and home finance, asset management, and asset reconstruction services. The Reliance Nippon Life Insurance Company also operates under the Reliance Capital umbrella.

Reliance Power

Reliance Power is a company that focuses on developing and managing power projects in India as well as abroad. It is the second company from the ADAG that operates in the energy sector. RPower operates multiple hydro, coal, gas, and wind power projects in various parts of the country. RInfra handles some of the RPower's units.

The Butibori Thermal Power Plant in Maharashtra, the Chitrangi power project in Madhya Pradesh, Reliance Power plant in Jaisalmer Rajasthan, Sasan Power Project in Madhya Pradesh and the Krishnapatnam Ultra Mega Power Project in Andhra Pradesh are some of the prominent projects that RPower bagged during the Congress rule. The firm has exited some of these projects recently as they remained stalled for several years.

Reliance Entertainment

The debate about ADAG cannot be completed without discussing the group's most popular division, Reliance Entertainment.

Established in 2005, Reliance Entertainment is probably the most famous division of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. It also has other subsidiaries like Reliance Games, Reliance Animation, Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd, (Big FM), Business Television India (BTVI), Reliance Media Works Ltd, Reliance Big TV (DTH), etc.

Reliance Entertainment has co-produced and distributed some of Bollywood's biggest hits like Singh Is Kinng, 3 Idiots, Ghajini, Paa, Don 2, Singham, Golmaal Again, and Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, etc. It also holds shares in multiple international filmmaking production houses, including Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Studios.

Citizens do have the right to know every single detail about the financial aspects of the Rafale deal. After all, it involves public money. The court would undoubtedly scrutinize the contract to cleat all the doubts. However, it would be wrong on the Congress Party's part to demean the entire ADAG, especially when the UPA Government itself had entrusted the group with some significant projects. Every business has to go through ups and downs, so did Anil Ambani's companies. The ADAG has generated lakhs of direct, indirect jobs, and pays taxes to the exchequer.