RIL exposure to Infocomm tops Rs 12000 crore

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), for the first time, made public the details of its investments and shareholding in Reliance Infocomm. In a media release issued after a three-hour long board meeting, the company said that it has invested over Rs 12,000 crore in Reliance Infocomm and holds a 42.35 per cent stake in the company.

RIL stated that the company is committed to be the lead investor in the Infocomm initiative, being run by Reliance Communications Infrastructure Ltd (RCIL) and Reliance Infocomm, "consistent with the wishes of the late Dhirubhai Ambani, founder Chairman of RIL".

RCIL is the holding company of Reliance Infocomm with a 77.29 per cent stake. RCIL runs infrastructure and data business, while Reliance Infocomm runs voice business.

The Rs 12,062.50 crore investment consists of a 45 per cent of equity capital in RCIL (which amounts to Rs 2,331 crore), a 7.57 per cent stake in Reliance Infocomm (Rs 31.50 crore), deep discount bonds of RCIL redeemable in September 2011 with a put and call option every year on 1st September from 2006 (Rs 1,600 crore) and cumulative convertible/redeemable preference shares in Reliance Infocomm (Rs 8,100 crore).

RCIL holds a 77.29 per cent stake in Reliance Infocomm. This essentially means that RIL's effective holding in RIC is 42.35 per cent (45 per cent of 77.29 per cent, plus a 7.57 per cent direct holding).

RIL also came out with details of its receivables in Smart Entrepreneurs Solution Pvt, a subsidiary of RCIL, and Smart Enterpreneurs' investment in some of the initial public offers of public sector undertakings.