Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has made the most of the stock market boom by reducing stakes in all its top conglomerates during the financial year 2023-2024 (FY24). However, even after reducing exposure, the value of its remaining stake has gone up substantially across all groups, according to data collated from stock exchange filings.
Stepping up the company's AI and cloud play, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani on Thursday announced that Jio users will get up to 100 GB of free cloud storage to securely store and access their photos, videos, documents, digital content and data. Addressing the 47th AGM of RIL, Ambani said the Jio AI-Cloud Welcome offer will be launched during the upcoming Diwali, which would bring a "powerful and affordable solution where cloud data storage and data-powered AI services are available to everyone, everywhere". "Jio users will get up to 100 GB of free cloud storage to securely store and access all their photos, videos, documents, all other digital content, and data.
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.
The government is looking to sell shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) held through Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) and is soon going to appoint an intermediary to manage it. The plan is to sell about 8 lakh shares of RIL that will help the government garner around Rs 180 crore. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) will appoint an intermediary that will act as a custodian of these shares. The intermediary, based on its market analysis, will offload these shares at the best price, said an official. A final approval on the proposal is expected soon.
Markets watchdog Sebi has disposed of adjudication proceedings without imposing any penalty on Reliance Industries Ltd in a matter related to alleged incorrect disclosure of diluted earnings per share in its financial results more than 13 years ago. Sebi decided not to impose any penalty for the alleged violations mainly on two grounds, including that the amendment to the relevant law that made incorrect disclosure of information by a listed company punishable came into force prospectively from March 2019. Besides, the regulator mentioned about its pending appeal before the Supreme Court against a Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) order.
Among the Sensex firms, Power Grid, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Reliance Industries, NTPC, State Bank of India, Tata Steel and Bharti Airtel were the major gainers. Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, HCL Tech and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the major laggards.
Reliance Industries on Monday categorically denied any intent to bid for the UK telecom group, BT. RIL dismissed a report titled `Reliance mulling bid for UK's telco BT Group' as "completely speculative and baseless". "We categorically deny any intent to bid for the UK telecom group, BT, formerly British Telecom, as reported in the article...," Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) said in a communication to BSE.
Reliance Industries was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, rising 2.69 per cent, followed by HCL Tech, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Wipro, IndusInd Bank, JSW Steel, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services and Titan. In contrast, NTPC, Power Grid, UltraTech Cement, Axis Bank, Infosys and Nestle were the major laggards.
10 analysts estimated RIL's consolidated net profit at Rs 11,256 crore and nine analysts estimated revenue at Rs 1.5 trillion.
FB deal puts RIL on course to be debt-free next year; Reliance Retail biggest gainer from WhatsApp, JioMart arrangement.
Qwik Supply, the third largest donor to political parities using electoral bonds, bought Rs 410 crore bonds between 2021-22 and 2023-24, and gave all but Rs 25 crore to the BJP.
Benchmark indices fell on Monday with the BSE Sensex declining 306 points, mainly dragged down by Reliance Industries. Foreign funds outflow also added to the overall bearish trend in equities on Monday. The 30-share BSE benchmark fell 306.01 points or 0.55 per cent to settle at 55,766.22. During the day, it declined 535.15 points or 0.95 per cent to 55,537.08. The broader NSE Nifty dipped 88.45 points or 0.53 per cent to 16,631.
Capital dumping is being used by foreign e-commerce firms to subsidise and engage in predatory pricing, oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL) has told the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) in an internal document. The document alleges that this is leading to massive unemployment and financial distress among small merchants and kirana stores. It consists of various recommendations and proposed changes that deal with Press Note 2 of 2018 (PN 2), which RIL wanted Assocham to present to the government, according to sources.
RIL's debt stood at Rs 3.06 trillion as of December 2019, against Rs 2.87 trillion in March 2019.
In a curious move, Reliance Industries' (RIL) executive director and Mukesh Ambani's trusted aide PMS Prasad pledged 600,000 shares of the company last month, which is 93.75 per cent of the total shares he owns in RIL. Prasad owned a total of 640,000 RIL shares and his compensation stood at Rs 11.15 crore in FY20.
Three leading domestic voting advisory firms are not on the same page over the proposed demerger and separate listing of ITC's hotel business, ITC Hotels. Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IiAS) has recommended a vote "against" the resolution, while InGovern and Stakeholders Empowerment Services (SES) have advised their clients to vote in favour. Voting on the resolution is currently underway.
Among the Sensex firms, IndusInd Bank was the biggest loser and fell 6.13 per cent, followed by SBI (3.99 pc), Hindustan Unilever (3.82 pc), Axis Bank (3.41 pc) and HDFC Bank (3.23 pc). In contrast, Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and PowerGrid defied the trend and closed with gains of up to 3.67 per cent. TCS and Bajaj Finserve were the other gainers.
As many as 49 players including Reliance Retail, Jindal Power Ltd and Adani group have submitted Expression of Interest (EoI) for acquiring the assets of debt-ridden Future Retail, which is currently going through insolvency resolution process. Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, which is the holding company for retail operations of RIL and April Moon Retail Private Ltd, a joint venture between Adani Airport holdings and Flemingo group have again submitted their EOI, after the lenders of Future Retail decided to invite fresh bids after dividing FRL's assets into clusters. According to an update from FRL's Resolution Professional, the 49 players would be permitted to submit "resolution plan(s) for any/all such Clusters under Option II".
Experts attribute this trend to a combination of end of capital expenditure cycle, increased automation, RIL's preference for time-bound labour contracts, and telecom and retail's outsourced human resource model.
India's first $1 trillion company by market capitalisation (mcap) is achievable by 2032 and HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries (RIL) are seen as lead contenders, ICICI Securities said in a note on Monday. To achieve this, the shares of both the firms will have to appreciate at least 20 per cent annually for the next decade. ICICI Securities believes this is possible if India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth accelerates to 9 per cent per annum and corporate profitability cycle peaks. "Our calculations suggest that India's first $1 trillion mcap stock could emerge by 2032.
RIL plunged around 4% after scaling its life-time high of Rs 1,978.50 as investors rushed to book profits after the company's AGM. Bharti Airtel, ONGC, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance and SBI were also among the laggards. On the other hand, shares of Infosys rallied around 6 per cent ahead of its quarterly earnings. HCL Tech, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank and HUL too ended with robust gains.
With two of its clusters - R-Series and Satellite Series - likely to start production in the next two years, the company looks to turn around production from this business.
Proxy advisory firm IiAS has recommended that institutional investors should vote against the appointment of Anant Ambani on Reliance Industries Ltd's (RIL's) board, citing his age as the reason. The firm has, however, given its green light to the appointment of Anant's elder siblings - Akash and Isha. In its recommendation note, IiAS said, "At 28 years of age, his appointment as a non-executive, non-independent director does not align with our voting guidelines."
The brokerage reduced its target price for the company to Rs 995 per share from Rs 1,350 apiece. Credit Suisse said RIL's liabilities increased from $19 billion to $65 billion in four years.
The changes in the domestic and global economy following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic are altering the corporate profit league table in India. Reliance Industries (RIL), which topped the India Inc profit chart for more than a decade, lost out to State Bank of India (SBI) in the 2023-24 (FY24) April-June quarter (first quarter, or Q1). India's biggest lender reported a consolidated net profit (adjusted for exceptional gains and losses) of Rs 66,860 crore during the trailing 12-month (TTM) ended in June this year, ahead of RIL's TTM adjusted net profit of Rs 64,758 crore in the quarter.
Since August 9, RIL shares have gone up by over 11 per cent.
In the rights issue, the company is offering one share for every 15 shares held at Rs 1,257. The rights shares are expected to be listed on the BSE and NSE on or around June 12.
As many as 19 firms, including Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Adani Group and Tata have evinced interest for setting up solar manufacturing units under a production linked incentive scheme of the government. In April this year, the Union Cabinet approved a Rs 4,500 crore production linked incentive (PLI) scheme to boost domestic manufacturing capacity of solar PV modules. The scheme is aimed at adding 10,000 MW manufacturing capacity of integrated solar PV modules entailing direct investment of Rs 17,200 crore.
RIL's Rs 53,124 crore rights issue was India's largest-ever rights issue. It was also the world's largest rights issue by a non-financial institution in the last ten years.
Stocks of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) have more headroom left despite the sharp run in the last few weeks, suggests a recent report from Morgan Stanley. Stocks of these oil refining and marketing companies (OMCs), it believes, are seeing multiples re-rate as investors reassess long-term growth prospects. "IOCL trades at one year forward P/BV of 1.2x, 19 per cent below +1 standard deviation (SD); BPCL trades at one year forward P/BV of 1.5x, near historical averages; HPCL trades at one year forward P/BV of 1.5x, near +1SD," Morgan Stanley said.
Mukesh Ambani's Jio Financial Services (JFS) is set to seek shareholders' approval for its leasing subsidiary to acquire telecom equipment and devices worth Rs 36,000 crore ($4.33 billion) from Reliance Retail. Jio Leasing Services Limited (JLSL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of JFS, plans to enter the device leasing business, and the equipment will be deployed in broadband wireless connectivity and other services.
From Network18 perspective, this helps reduce dependence on ads and helps especially in times of slower GDP growth.
From the Sensex pack, Jio Financial Services fell the most by 4.99 per cent. Reliance Industries, Power Grid, Larsen & Toubro, JSW Steel, HCL Technologies, NTPC, Tata Steel, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services and HDFC Bank also declined. IndusInd Bank, Infosys, UltraTech Cement, ICICI Bank, Nestle and Axis Bank were among the gainers.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdown may have put the best of funds on a backfoot of deal activity, RIL, however, has been an outlier. With 10 different investors brought in for its telecom venture Jio Platforms, RIL undertook 12 different transactions since April this year.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries has announced the contours of carving out of its oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business into an independent unit with a USD 25 billion loan from the parent, as it looks to unlock value by selling stakes to global investors like Saudi Aramco.
From the Sensex pack, Reliance Industries jumped the most by 3.78 per cent. Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, UltraTech Cement, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors were the other biggest gainers. Titan, HCL Technologies, Power Grid, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank and Nestle were among the major laggards.
While Mukesh Ambani-led RIL posted a 108 per cent YoY rise in profit after tax for Q4FY21 at Rs 13,227 crore, it fell short of Bloomberg estimate of Rs 13,704 crore.
RIL subsidiary Reliance New Energy Solar, Ola Electric, Hyundai Global Motors Company and Rajesh Exports have been approved for receiving incentives under the Rs 18,100 crore Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for battery manufacturing in India, sources said on Thursday. "The ministry had received bids from 10 companies with a capacity of 130 GWh. Reliance, Ola Electric, Hyundai and Rajesh Exports have qualified for ACC batteries," a source said. Other companies which had applied for the PLI scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) batteries were Lucas-TVS, Mahindra & Mahindra, Amara Raja Batteries, Exide Industries, Larsen & Toubro and India Power Corporation Limited.
Moody's Investors Service on Wednesday raised the rating outlook for 18 Indian corporates and banks, including Reliance Industries, Infosys, SBI and Axis Bank, to 'stable' from 'negative'. This follows the upgrade by the US-based rating agency in India's sovereign rating outlook to 'stable' from 'negative' on Tuesday. The agency had affirmed the sovereign rating at 'Baa3'.
The new entity will continue to work on technologies in areas like healthcare and education, while also looking at next-gen competencies like artificial intelligence, Blockchain, virtual and augmented reality, among others.