Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries on Monday became the first Indian company to hit a market valuation of $150 billion (Rs 11.44 lakh crore) as the shares surged for the third day in a row, PTI reported.
In morning trade, the firm’s market valuation jumped by Rs 28,248.97 crore to Rs 11,43,667 crore on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The shares climbed up 2.53% to touch a record high of Rs 1,804.10 on the BSE. On June 19, Reliance Industries also became the first-ever company in India to hit the market capitalisation of Rs 11 lakh crore after Ambani announced that it had become net-debt free. Ambani has raised over Rs 1.68 lakh crore in less than two months, against its net debt of Rs 1,61,035 crore as on March 31. This happened despite a global lockdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Ambani, the chairperson of Reliance Industries Limited, also vaulted into the list of the world’s top 10 richest people after his net worth jumped to $64.5 billion (Rs 4.9 lakh crore), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He overtook France’s Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the wealthiest woman, to reach the ninth spot.
Last year, Ambani had assured his shareholders that the company would become net-debt free by March 31, 2021. He had also mentioned that its subsidiaries, Reliance Jio and Reliance Retail, would also be listed in the next five years. The Mumbai-based company kicked off stake sales in Jio Platforms in late April with Facebook Inc buying a 9.99% stake for Rs 43,574 crore. Since then, it has sold 24.7% of Jio Platforms to global investors including General Atlantic, KKR, Saudi sovereign wealth fund and Abu Dhabi state fund.
In a statement on Friday, Ambani said that strong investor interest in Reliance’s consumer businesses, Jio Platforms and Reliance Retail, will help the two units move toward a public listing in the next five years. So far this year, the company’s stock has gained over 19%.
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