Samsung's Lee Jae-yong attends wedding of Reliance chairman's son in India

Samsung Electronics' Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong flew to India to attend the wedding of the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries.

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, fourth from left in the second row, poses for a photo with employees of Samsung India after an internal meeting in Mumbai. [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong spent a busy weekend in India attending the wedding of the youngest son of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and inspecting the conglomerate's subsidiary plants in the country.

The wedding of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant, daughter of pharma tycoons Viren and Shaila Merchant, took place at the Jio World Convention Center in Mumbai on Friday. Festivities continued through the weekend.

Samsung and Reliance Industries, India's largest private corporation, cooperate closely on mobile communication network equipment. The Korean conglomerate previously offered LTE core and base stations to subsidiary Reliance Jio.

Lee also attended the weddings of the Reliance chairman's two other children, celebrating his daughter Isha in 2018 and oldest son Akashi in 2019.

More than 1,200 people were invited to Anant Ambani's three-day prewedding celebration in March, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Pop star Rihanna performed at the event.

Mukesh Ambani was the world's eleventh-richest man and No. 1 in Asia, with a net worth of $123.7 billion, as of Sunday.

Reliance is an energy-centered conglomerate with an average of $100 billion in annual revenue.

The Samsung executive chairman also visited the company's plants in India and held a meeting with their employees in which he emphasized the importance of the burgeoning Indian information technology market, commenting, “Let’s make history with fierce competitiveness and a sense of urgency.”

India is one of the fastest-growing countries globally, having surpassed China to become the world's most populous nation.

Its market is characterized by a large number of young customers in their 20s and 30s and a growing middle class, leading to a surge in demand for premium products in the smartphone and consumer electronics sectors.

Samsung occupies the largest share of India’s smartphone market, having accounted for 18 percent in 2023, followed by China’s Vivo and Xiaomi taking up 17 and 16.5 percent respectively, according to CyberMedia Research.

Samsung currently operates two plants in India including a facility dedicated to smartphones in Noida and a home appliance factory in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It also operates research centers in Noida, Bengaluru and Delhi; a sales subsidiary in Gurugram; 200,000 retail stores; and 3,000 service centers across the country.

Lee returned to Korea on Sunday afternoon, through Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center, but did not take questions from the press.

BY LEE JAE-LIM, SARAH CHEA [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]