Reliance’s valuation hits Rs 8 lakh crore

Mumbai: Reliance Industries (RIL) on Thursday became the first Indian firm to cross the Rs 8 lakh crore-market capitalisation as fresh buying took the stock to an all-time high on the domestic bourses. 

The company’s total market capitalisation stood at Rs 8.04 lakh crore after its share prices soared 1.86 per cent or Rs 23.20 to close the day at 1,269.70 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. 

Mukesh Ambani controlled RIL is now the most valued firm in India followed by IT bellwether Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which commands a market capitalisation of Rs 7.79 lakh crore. 

The stocks of RIL has rewarded investors with impressive return in 2018 till date soaring 37.85 per cent outperforming the  30-share Sensex by a huge margin, which is up just 12.56 per cent. 

Experts said the stock is attracting lot of investor interest as its consumer business has started contributing in a big way along with petro-chemical and refining business.

Last month, RIL reported a 17.9 per cent jump in its net profit for the quarter ended June 2018 with consumer business accounting for 21 per cent of consolidated segment EBIDTA. 

While announcing the result on July 27, Mukesh Ambani, chairman and MD said, “Retail business revenues have more than doubled and EBIDTA has trebled on a year on year basis. Jio added a record number of subscribers, highlighting the compelling technology and value proposition that Jio offers vis-a-vis other networks. The scalability of our consumer business platforms is driving unprecedented value generation for our customers, our country and our shareholders”.

The rally helped both Sensex and Nifty to scale new high despite weakness in emerging market currencies amid fresh trade war concerns.