Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) reached a historic milestone on Thursday as it became the first ever Indian company to hit the market capitalisation of Rs 10 lakh crore, while continuing to be the country’s most valued listed company.
RIL shares hit a fresh record high of Rs 1,581.60 in early trade on Thursday, taking its market capitalisation up to Rs 10.02 lakh crore. Notably, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is India’s second most valued firm on bourses with a market cap of Rs 7.81 lakh crore.
RIL shares have returned 7.5% to investors in the last one month and over 37% in the last one year on the back of improved outlook for the company’s consumer businesses — telecom (Reliance Jio) and retail (Reliance Retail).
In fact, the recent rally in RIL shares was triggered after Reliance Jio last week announced that it would be raising voice and data tariffs soon. The company said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is likely to initiate consultation process for revision in telecom tariffs.
“Like other operators, we will also work with the government and comply with the regulatory regime to strengthen the industry to benefit Indian consumers and take measures including appropriate increase in tariffs in next few weeks in a manner that does not adversely impact data consumption or growth in digital adoption and sustains investments,” Reliance Jio had said in a statement.
Following the announcement, global brokerage firm Morgan Stanley, while maintaining its overweight call on RIL, announced its bull case target price at Rs 2,000 per share on hope of higher refinery margins, potential telecom tariff hike, bottoming P/E cycle, kickstart of gas production, lower capex and ongoing deleveraging.
Goldman Sachs also maintained its ‘buy’ rating on the RIL stock, saying: “Recent news around telecom tariff hikes could create potential upside risk to our estimates and valuation for RIL.”
(Disclaimer: News18.com is a part of Network18 Media & Investment Limited which is owned by Reliance Industries Limited that also owns Reliance Jio)
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