US-based private equity firm Silver Lake will invest Rs 5,656 crore in Jio Platforms
Reliance Industries shares weakened by nearly 3 per cent on the BSE after the oil-to-telecom conglomerate reported a 39 per cent fall in net profit to Rs 6,348 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 2020. At 9:35 am, the shares of Reliance Industries were trading at Rs 1449, lower by 18 points or 1.2 per cent, on the BSE.
The shares opened at Rs 1,442 and have touched an intra-day high of Rs 1,465 and a low of Rs 1,419 thus far.
Reliance Industries' net profit dropped 39 per cent to Rs 6,348 crore in the March quarter on the back of a slump in crude oil prices amid outbreak of Covid-19, the company said. The company had reported profit of Rs 10,362 crore in the same quarter last year. Revenue of Mukesh Ambani-led oil-to-telecom giant fell 2.3 per cent to Rs 1,39,283 crore from Rs 1,42,565 crore during March quarter of last year.
Meanwhile, the company's telecom arm Reliance Jio's net profit nearly tripled to Rs 2,331 crore from Rs 840 crore last year. Its average revenue per user (ARPU), a key metric of revenue earned by a telecom firm from an individual user, improved to Rs 130.6 per month from Rs 128.4 during the previous quarter.
In related news, Reliance Industries said on Monday that private equity firm Silver Lake will invest Rs 5,656 crore ($746.74 million) in Jio Platforms, giving it a valuation of Rs 4.90 lakh crore. The deal comes days after Facebook announced an investment of Rs 43,574 crore to buy a 9.99 per cent stake in Jio Platforms.
The BSE Sensex had weakened b 4.5 per cent to 1,526 and the NSE Nifty had shed 4.4 per cent to 9,419 at the time.
