RIL jumps post AGM

Reliance Industries is among the top five gainers on the BSE since opening bell, with volumes rising almost 1.5 times. The stock opened today with a gain of almost 7% at Rs.1240 and rose to an intraday high at Rs.1272.55, going up over 9.5%. This is the biggest surge in the price since Feb 2017.

The company held its AGM yesterday and the biggest takeaway for the market was Mukesh Ambani saying that the company will become net debt free in the next 18 months, which is by 31^st March 2021. RIL had net debt of ?154,478 crore as of March 31, 2019.

Another news of big cheer – 20% stake sale in RIL to Saudi flagship company, Aramco, which is a structural de-risking of downstream portfolio. The deal has been struck at $15 billion and as against the debt of $22 billion, this is a good move towards deleveraging.

This apart, Ambani announced the rollout of its Jio GigaFiber from 5^th Sept – offering free landline voice calls for life, high speed broadband and free HD TV and a dish with minimum monthly subscription of Rs.700.

Obviously, the hope is that RIL will hive off Jio and Reliance Retail and unlock value by going for an IPO sometime next year.