RIL Reclaims Most Valued Co Tag On Reports Of Facebook's Interest In Jio

On Wednesday, shares of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) rose over 15 percent to reclaim its tag of the most valued Indian company in terms of market cap, surpassing TCS (Tata Consultancy Services).

The stock closed 14.65 percent higher at Rs 1,081.25 per share on BSE on Wednesday and opened 1.25 percent higher at Rs 1,095.80 on Thursday. Its market cap stands above Rs 6.8 trillion compared to TCS' market cap of Rs 6.6 trillion.

Reliance Industries: Quotes, News

BSE 1412.551.1 (-0.08%)

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At the start of the week, on Monday, shares of the conglomerate fell to a 52-week low of Rs 875.70 apiece amid sell-off in global equity markets due to a surge in coronavirus infection cases.

However, the tide reversed after the Financial Times, the international daily newspaper, reported that Facebook Inc is in talks with RIL to acquire a 10 percent stake in Jio. The report also said that the telco is in separate talks with Google Inc.

While these talks have been on for a while, they have been reportedly paused due to the travel restrictions imposed in the light of COVID-19 pandemic.

In October 2019, Chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani had announced the company's decision to restructure RIL's digital businesses as a single entity to unlock its value and list it separately. "Given the reach and scale of our digital ecosystem, we have received strong interest from potential strategic partners. We will induct the right partners in our platform company, creating and unlocking meaningful value for RIL shareholders," he had said.

Ambani also spoke of the conglomerate's plan to become a zero-net debt firm by March 2021. The deal to sell a 20 percent stake in its oil to chemicals business for $15 billion to Saudi Aramco as part of the plan is yet to materialise.