The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by Sebi against a Securities Appellate Tribunal order which set aside the penalty imposed by the market regulator on RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani and two other entities in a case related to alleged manipulative trading in shares of the erstwhile Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) in November 2007. A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said it was not inclined to interfere with the order passed by SAT.
The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on Monday set aside the penalty imposed by Sebi on Reliance Industries Ltd's chairman Mukesh Ambani and two other entities in a case related to alleged manipulative trading in the shares of erstwhile Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) back in November 2007. The ruling has come after all the entities appealed before the tribunal against the order passed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in January 2021. In January 2021, Sebi imposed a Rs 25 crore fine on Reliance Industries Ltd(RIL), Rs 15 crore on Ambani, who is the company's chairman and managing director, Rs 20 crore on Navi Mumbai SEZ Pvt Ltd and Rs 10 crore on Mumbai SEZ Ltd in RPL case.
In two separate filings, both the companies said a meeting of the board of directors will be held on March 2, to consider and recommend the amalgamation of Reliance Petroleum and Reliance Industries, the country's most valued firm in terms of market capitalisation.
What was the fraud? Why did Sebi drag its feet on the order? What options does RIL have now? Samie Modak explains these and more.
Acting finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, in a written reply, said Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Petroleum Ltd was one of the 19 companies against which complaints of insider trading were received by market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India.
In an action replay after seven years, Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries, India's largest company by market capitalisation, announced on Friday, plans to merge its group firm Reliance Petroleum with itself. Both RIL and RPL informed the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday that they would hold separate board meetings on March 2 to consider the merger.
In a disclosure to the Bombay Stock Exchange, Reliance Petroleum LTD said Chevron India Holdings has sold 22.50 crore shares, representing five per cent stake in RPL, to Reliance Industries. RIL has paid Rs 60 per share aggregating to Rs 1,350 crore, the same price at which the US firm had bought five per cent stake in RPL in April 2006.
Amar Singh, general secretary of the Samajwadi Party, has written to the Securities and Exchange Board of India alleging insider trading in the shares of Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Petroleum Ltd, on July 9, 2008, just days before his party voted in favour of the current ruling alliance at the centre.
Reliance Power IPO from billionaire Anil Ambani-led group may have generated highest demand, but its listing premium could only be ranked the lowest after DLF among 10 major IPOs since elder brother Mukesh's Reliance Petroleum made its debut on the bourses in 2006.
Mukesh Ambani group company Reliance Petroleum may not have found much favour with investors during its nearly eight-month stay on the bourses, but the company has found mention in a list of the world's 15 biggest IPOs in 2006.
RIL had sought to settle a probe by Sebi into the alleged violation of insider-trading norms in sale of shares of its erstwhile subsidiary Reliance Petroleum in 2007.
Reliance Industries Ltd had sought to settle certain investigations into alleged violation of insider trading norms in sale of shares of its erstwhile subsidiary Reliance Petroleum Ltd, but the application to settle of the matter under Sebi's consent framework was rejected by the regulator.
It's not just India's largest company, Reliance Industries that's under scrutiny for insider trading in Reliance Petroleum Ltd in 2007. Anand Jain's investment company, Vinamra Universal Traders Private Ltd, and MoTech Software, then led by Annu Tandon, now a Congress politician and MP, are among a dozen entities facing regulatory action.
The Central Information Commission has directed the Securities and Exchange Board of India to make public names of entities which were allegedly involved in the insider trading of shares of Reliance Petroleum in 2007.
Market regulator Sebi will further look into trading of shares of Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL), which is now part of Reliance Industries, for alleged insider trading during November 2007, Parliament was informed.
The matter dates back to 2007, when RIL, prior to the merger of Reliance Petroleum with itself, allegedly short-sold 4.1 per cent stake in RPL to prevent a slump in the stock.
Sources said a final order could be made soon in this case by Sebi, which has rejected twice RIL's request for settling the case by paying a consent fee -- an out-of-court settlement like resolution reached through negotiations between the two parties.
More punitive action was needed against the company and the management, say experts
Regulator Sebi on Friday imposed penalties on Reliance Industries Ltd, its chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani as well as two other entities for alleged manipulative trading in the shares of erstwhile Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) back in November 2007. Fines of Rs 25 crore and Rs 15 crore have been imposed on Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Ambani, respectively. Besides, Navi Mumbai SEZ Pvt Ltd has been asked to pay a penalty of Rs 20 crore and Mumbai SEZ Ltd has been directed to pay Rs 10 crore. The case pertains to sale and purchase of RPL shares in the cash and the futures segments in November 2007.
A minor fire broke out at a waste disposal site at Reliance Petroleum Ltd's under-construction export-oriented refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat, but was quickly brought under control.
Whether it was the issue of the treasury stock (which came about when Reliance Industries Limited and Reliance Petroleum merged), or the dependent nature of so-called independent directors of RIL, or the opaque structuring of conflict-of-interest deals, Anil Ambani came out with guns blazing, accusing his older brother Mukesh of trying to diddle the shareholders of the company their father had built.
The Bombay high court has sanctioned the scheme of amalgamation of RPL with Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani-led company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
The Registrar of Companies has given a clean chit to Reliance Industries, while disposing of complaints that its merger with Reliance Petroleum would benefit only promoter Mukesh Ambani.
Sebi was probing a complaint by S Gurumurthy of Swadeshi Jagran Manch, alleging that RIL and its investors lost at least Rs 2,700 crore.
Domestic brokerage Sharekhan's last month's analysis of buy and sell transactions by mutual funds shows that the fund houses purchased stocks from sectors such as infrastructure, IT, telecom and healthcare, while offloading shares from oil and gas and banking sectors. Domestic mutual funds are lapping up the buying opportunity present in the bear gripped stock market and made net purchases worth Rs 3,179 crore (Rs 31.79 billion) in equities in June.
Reliance Petroleum, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, India's largest company by market capitalisation, today commissioned its second refinery in a special economic zone (SEZ) at Jamnagar, adjacent to its existing facility, in Gujarat that will add 20 per cent to India's total crude oil refining capacity.
Reliance Industries has not violated any regulations, a spokesperson for Mukesh Ambani-led firm said on Monday, when asked about Sebi's show-cause notice in relation to sale of shares of its then subsidiary Reliance Petroleum in late 2007.
RPL, a unit of Reliance Industries, had sought nod to export the entire liquefied petroleum gas production in the six months to fully commissioning its 580,000-barrels per day refinery in the Jamnagar special economic zone. RPL, in which US energy major Chevron Corp has 5 per cent stake, is likely to start producing fuel from the unit being set up adjacent to parent firm's existing 660,000 bpd refinery at Jamnagar in the next few weeks.
Two persons accused of extorting money from Reliance Industries for withdrawing their petition filed in Bombay High Court opposing the company's merger with group firm Reliance Petroleum, have been taken to Mumbai for investigation, police officials said.
RIL officials had then termed the deal a "win-win" for both the companies. It's an irony that the termination of the agreement was also hailed as a "win-win" by RIL in informal briefings with the media today. When reminded about this, an RIL official shrugged and said "nothing is constant in business."
Cash flows from RPL will help Reliance to step up investments on explorations. Reliance Industries, which owns the world's biggest refinery complex, is looking at additional cash flows, tax benefits, continuity of export status and other synergies in its attempt to merge Reliance Petroleum with itself, after a 54 per cent decline in stock prices.
Chevron CEO David O'Reilly told analysts the company has pulled out of some unprofitable refining markets, and will continue to do so. However, he had said that Chevron is continuing talks with its refining joint venture partner RIL that would determine whether it keeps a foothold in Indian refining. Chevron has not yet signed a crude supply and product off-take agreement with RIL to take forward its plans to increase its stake in RPL beyond the existing 5 per cent.
Extend tax holiday for refineries in private sectors, reduce excise duty on Naphtha from 16%, exempt excise duty for captive consumption of intermediate products within the refinery for manufacture of exempted products.
Anup Sheth and two others had filed applications, objecting to the merger scheme in the present form. The objectors had demanded that high court should order inquiry by Securities and Exchange Board of India, Reserve Bank of India and other financial governing bodies before sanctioning the merger.
The oil ministry is believed to have turned down Reliance Petroleum Ltd's request to export LPG from its newly commissioned refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat, forcing the only-for-exports unit to sell the cooking fuel locally.
Indian corporates have raised around $11.9 billion through overseas borrowing in the first five months of 2007-08, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data on external commercial borrowings (ECB).
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