Reliance Industries becomes first Indian firm to cross Rs 9 lakh crore market capitalisation, stock hits fresh 52-week high

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries became the first firm in India to cross the Rs 9-lakh crore market capitalisation mark ahead of announcement of its Q2 earnings later today. The conglomerate was also the first to reach Rs 8 lakh crore market cap mark in August last year.

Reliance Industries' market capitalisation rose to Rs 9.03 lakh crore after the stock reached Rs 1,428, a fresh 52-week high. Reliance Industries share rose 2.28% to Rs 1,428 compared to the previous close of Rs 1,396.15 on BSE. The large cap stock opened at Rs 1,403.10. The stock has gained 5% in last five sessions.

Reliance Industries share is trading higher than 5-day, 20-day, 50-day, 100-day and 200-day moving averages. RIL share has gained 23.63%  during the last one year and gained 26.7% since the beginning of this year.

Also read: Reliance Industries' market capitalisation to hit $200 bn in 24 months, says BofA-ML

Its closest competitor TCS clocked a market capitalisation of Rs 7.66 lakh crore in trade today.

Expectations are high from the conglomerate's Q2 earnings today. The country's largest company by market cap is expected to post a 17 per cent jump in its consolidated net profit to Rs 11,158 crore for Q2FY20 as per Bloomberg consensus estimates, fuelled by higher growth in the consumer-focused segments and a recovery in the refinery business.

RIL had reported net profit of Rs 9,516 crore in the same period last year. In fact, the company has outperformed the Bloomberg estimates on this front by a margin of 3-21 per cent in seven of the past 10 quarters.

Its standalone profit is expected to increase 11.3 per cent to Rs 9,863 crore, the highest in six quarters, The Economic Times reported.

Also read: RIL races past TCS in m-cap; Mukesh Ambani's wealth surges by Rs 40,000 crore in a month

Reliance Industries share received a further boost from Bank of America Merrill Lynch this week. The Mumbai-based firm is likely to become first Indian company to reach $200 billion market cap in 24 months backed by its new commerce venture and fixed broadband business, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA-ML) said in a report.

The stock is likely to receive additional boost with several initiatives Reliance Industries has undertaken.

New commerce initiative of empowering kiranas in unorganised retail market by offering MPoS (mobile point-of-sale), entry into SME enterprise space with Microsoft, Jio's fiber broadband business and digital initiatives such as advertising could push the market capitalisation of the conglomerate to $200 billion, the brokerage said. 

By Aseem Thapliyal