Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries became the country's most valuable company on Friday, after its market capitalisation - or market value - topped Rs 9 lakh crore for the first time ever. RIL shares rose more than 2 per cent to touch a record high of Rs 1,428 ahead of the earnings announcement by the oil-to-telecom conglomerate. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), Reliance Industries shares climbed 2.25 per cent to Rs 1,427.90 at the day's highest level. (Also read: Reliance Industries targets more retail acquisitions abroad)
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is India's second most valuable company. The country's largest IT services exporter has reached a maximum market capitalisation of Rs 8.61 lakh crore so far. HDFC Bank is at the third spot (Rs 7 lakh crore), according to data from the stock exchanges.
Reliance Industries is due to release its financial results for the quarter ended September 30 later in the day.
For the quarter ended June 30, the group had reported a 6.8 per cent rise in net profit to Rs. 10,104 crore - surpassing street estimates - over a 21.25 per cent increase in revenue from operations to Rs. 1,61,349 crore.
Analysts will also closely monitor the earnings of Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom arm of Reliance Industries.
Reliance Jio said this month that it would charge its customers 6 paise per minute for calls made to other networks till the telecom sector regulator TRAI moves to a zero termination-charge regime.
For the April-June period, Reliance Jio's net profit rose 45.58 per cent to Rs. 891 crore. It gross added 33.8 million subscribers in the quarter, which translated into a growth of 44 per cent and 49 per cent in revenue and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) respectively, according to the company.
At 11:12 am, Reliance Industries shares traded 1.71 per cent higher at Rs 1,420.00 apiece on the BSE, outperforming the benchmark Sensex index which was up 0.39 per cent. Reliance Industries' market capitalisation or market value stood at Rs 9,00,158.87 crore at the time, according to the BSE.
So far this year, Mr Ambani's Reliance Industries has surged 25 per cent, compared with a gain of 7 per cent in the benchmark Nifty 50 index.
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