RIL AGM: Mukesh Ambani announces 1 bonus share for every 1 share held

In a gift for its shareholders, the Reliance Industries (RIL) board today recommended bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1. The ratio shows that a shareholder of the company will receive one share for every share held. While addressing the 40th annual general meeting at Birla Matushri Sabhagar in Mumbai, Mukesh Ambani said, "This is the largest bonus issue by any company so far"

Reliance Industries also launched a low-cost phone with 4G-enabled features on Friday in a bid to woo tens of millions of low-income users to its upstart telecoms venture Jio's service.

ALSO READ: Jio disruption: Feature phone to cost Rs 0 with Rs 1,500 refundable deposit

The handset, named JioPhone, will "effectively cost zero" as buyers will be able to get the device for a one-time refundable security deposit of Rs 1,500 ($23.32),  Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani.

The launch was widely anticipated as Ambani, India's richest man, uses the company's annual meeting to make key launch announcements that have in the past disrupted sectors.

Jio disruption: Feature phone to cost Rs 0 with Rs 1,500 refundable deposit

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) on Friday held its 40th AGM or annual general meeting for shareholders today, at Birla Matushri Sabhagar in Mumbai. During the event, Reliance announced the launch of its 4G feature phone. Along with that the telco has announced its cable TV device.

The JioPhone will be available for free but buyers will have to deposit a fee of Rs 1500 which will be refundable after three years. This means the phone will be available at an effective price of zero.

On Thursday, Reliance Industries reported its highest quarterly consolidated net profit of Rs 9,108 crore in three-months to 30 June on the back of higher petrochemical margins and one-time gain from sale of African asset.


Net profit in the April-June quarter at Rs 9,108 crore (Rs 30.8 per share) was 28 percent higher than Rs 7,113 crore (Rs 24.1 a share) in the same period of the last financial year, RIL said in a statement.

"Strong refining and petrochemicals margin environment contributed to higher operating profits for the quarter," it said.

Here are the highlights

* Mukesh Ambani says a person who invested Rs 1,000 in 1977 has earned Rs 16.5 lakh in 40 years.

* In less than 170 days, Jio hit 100 million, 7 customer per second.

* After the initial launch of Jio data consumption increased to 120 crores GB every month.

* India's data consumption since the launch of Jio is over 125GB per month

* In just 4 decades, Reliance has grown from a small startup to one of the largest companies in the world: Mukesh Ambani at RIL AGM 2017

ONGC deal is not value accretive for HPCL shareholders: analysts

STOCK MARKET - Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) slipped 4.4 per cent to Rs 367 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Thursday, a day after the Union Cabinet approved the sale of its 51 per cent equity in the company to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) post market hours, while ruling out the possibility of an open offer to the minority shareholders of HPCL given no change in effective ownership.

Since July 12, HPCL has outperformed the market by gaining 12 per cent till Wednesday on reports that the merger with ONGC will be completed by the end of this fiscal year. ONGC, which ended 1.8 per cent higher at Rs 166 on Thursday, has gained 1.7 per cent as compared to 0.66 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex since July 12.

Analysts have given a thumbs-down to the deal, which they feel will not be value accretive to HPCL’s shareholders. Going ahead, HPCL will continue to operate as a separate entity, albeit with a possibility of a merger with MRPL – another ONGC subsidiary – in the future. On the other hand, as a majority shareholder in the company, it will be within the means of ONGC to leverage HPCL's balance sheet, they say.

“The apprehension is that a full merger will not be value accretive to the shareholders of HPCL, which has enjoyed a 900 per cent appreciation in price in the last three years. That is because; HPCL and BPCL have been the two biggest beneficiaries of the free pricing of petrol and diesel,” points out a note from Angel Broking.

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PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2017 RESULTS - Prez Polls: Let's see if our ideology prevails, says Meira Kumar on result

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2017 - Opposition Presidential nominee Meira Kumar on Thursday reiterated her view, which she has maintained since her nomination, that she believes in the ideology which she has fought for, adding that she would want to see if it prevails.

"I believe in the ideology I've fought for and I believe in the voice of conscience. Let us see how much it prevails," Kumar said.

Responding to a poser on how she views this fight, Kumar said the people in this country have certain values and they have kept those as their base for these elections.

Kumar also expressed her gratefulness to the Opposition parties which unanimously got together and decided her name for the post of President.

Meanwhile, the counting of votes for the presidential polls is underway.

The final result will be declared by 5 pm.

Meira Kumar, the former Speaker of Lok Sabha, was announced as the Indian National Congress (INC)-led Opposition's candidate for the post of President of India, after a meeting held on June 22, 2017.

Both, NDA presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind and Kumar are from the Dalit community and have canvassed hard by visiting states to seek support of legislators.

The Presidential election on July 17 saw 100 per cent polling of 11 states. A total of 771 members of Parliament and 4,109 legislators were eligible to cast votes.

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Aditya Birla Money up 5% for 12 straight day; stock zooms 122% in a month

STOCK MARKET - Aditya Birla Money (ABM) hit its upper circuit of 5% for the twelfth straight session. The stock touched its fresh high of Rs 135 with its market value appreciating by 122% in the past one month from Rs 61 on June 20, 2017.

Till 01:29 pm; a combined 51,825 shares changed hands and there were pending buy orders for 705,640 shares on the BSE and NSE.

ABM, a Kumar Mangalam Birla led Aditya Birla Group company, is in the business of offering investments & trading in stock and securities through its various affiliations with stock exchanges. It offers Portfolio Management Services to high networth individuals (HNI) and corporate investors.

ABM also caters to investments in debt instruments and mutual funds through it digital platform to diversify asset allocation.

As a depository participant, ABM has equity assets under custody worth around Rs 25,000 crore catering to over three lakh investors who can hold stocks & securities, mutual funds and insurance policies in electronic form.

Aditya Birla Financial Services, the promoter,  hold 75% stake in ABM. Aditya Birla Financial Services has business interests including that of non-banking financial institution, housing finance, asset management, brokerage, wealth advisory and health insurance.

In August 2016, the boards of directors of Grasim Industries, Aditya Birla Nuvo and Aditya Birla Financial Services (now known as Aditya Birla Capital) approved the merger of Aditya Birla Nuvo into Grasim, and subsequent demerger and listing of its financial services business.

Listing of financial services business provides flexibility to independently fund its growth through various sources of capital, the company said.

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