Reliance Industries Net Debt Free, Shares Jump 2 Pc

NEW DELHI: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani on Friday said his flagship firm Reliance Industries is now net-debt free after a record Rs 1.69 lakh crore fund raising in under two months.

In a statement, Ambani said Reliance raised Rs 1.15 lakh crore from global tech investors by selling a little less than a quarter of the firm's digital arm, Jio Platforms Ltd, and another Rs 53,124.20 crore through a rights issue.

The oil-to-telecom conglomerate had a net-debt of Rs 1.61 lakh crore as on March 31, 2020.

"I have fulfilled my promise to the shareholders by making Reliance net-debt free much before our original schedule of March 31, 2021," he said.

Meanwhile, shares of Reliance Industries jumped 2 per cent.

The heavyweight stock rose 1.97 per cent to Rs 1,689 -- its all-time high -- on the BSE. On the NSE, it surged 1.99 per cent to its record peak of Rs 1,688.95.

With this, the company's market valuation rose by Rs 16,346.65 crore to reach Rs 10,66,034.08 crore in morning trade on the BSE.

Meanwhile, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Asia's richest man's owned-company Reliance Industries has decided to cut the salary of most of its employees by 10 to 50 per cent. Its owner Mukesh Ambani has said that he will forego all his renumeration.

While Ambani will forgo his entire Rs 15 crore compensation, Reliance board of directors including executive directors, Executive Committee (EC) members, and senior leaders will forgo 30 to 50 per cent of their compensation.