RIL falls and trips

Shares of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) witnessed their sharpest single-day decline in over eight months on today, sliding more than 5% in intraday trade. The stock fell as much as 5.1% to Rs. 1,496.30, marking its steepest intraday fall since April last year, before recovering marginally to trade around Rs. 1,508.30, down 4.3% as of late morning. This came against a relatively muted broader market, with the Nifty 50 down 0.26%. The decline followed a strong rally, with RIL having touched an all-time high of Rs. 1,611.80 just a day earlier and delivering 26% returns over the past 12 months, significantly outperforming the benchmark’s 11% gain.

The immediate trigger for the sell-off was a report that CLSA dropped Reliance Industries from its India model portfolio, opting instead to increase exposure to consumption, rate-sensitive and IT stocks. According to Bloomberg, CLSA replaced RIL with Eternal and Avenue Supermarts (DMart) in its portfolio, signalling a tactical shift rather than a fundamental downgrade. The sharp price reaction was amplified by heavy volumes, with the stock trading at 6.5 times its 30-day average volume, suggesting profit-booking by short-term and momentum-oriented investors after the recent run-up.

Adding to near-term volatility was market chatter around Reliance’s crude sourcing, which the company moved swiftly to rebut. RIL denied reports that Russian crude shipments were headed to its Jamnagar refinery, calling such claims “blatantly untrue” and stating that no Russian crude had been received in the past three weeks, nor was any expected in January 2026. While the clarification helped limit further downside, the episode underscores how geopolitical sensitivities and headline risk can temporarily weigh on sentiment around large, globally integrated businesses.

From a broader perspective, the correction appears more sentiment- and positioning-driven than fundamentally led. Reliance remains a diversified energy-to-digital conglomerate with a market capitalisation of about Rs. 20.6 trillion, and its recent rally had already priced in optimism around refining margins, telecom monetisation and retail scale-up. The sharp pullback reflects a pause after a strong run, as global funds rebalance portfolios and rotate into other themes, rather than a decisive shift in the company’s long-term investment case.