Mumbai: India’s Reliance Industries Ltd and seven other firms including top mobile phone operator Bharti Airtel Ltd have applied to participate in next month’s auction for mobile phone airwaves, several people directly involved in the process said.

Others firms which have submitted applications for the auction that will start on 4 March include the local unit of Vodafone Group Plc, Reliance Communications Ltd, Idea Cellular Ltd, and Tata Teleservice Ltd, the people said.

Though its exploration and production business contributes just 1.51% to its turnover (Rs 6068 crore out of Rs 4.01 lakh crore in FY14) and less than 10% to its sum-of-the-parts valuation of R941 per share, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is serious about taking the government to task over what it perceives to be a series of arbitrary actions on the latter’s part. Last month, RIL filed its fifth arbitration suit against the government, and the first since the NDA came to power (see box, Furious Five).

The petroleum ministry is planning to ask Reliance Industries (RIL) to withdraw its latest notice of arbitration, served on January 14, challenging the ministry’s decision to take away 81 per cent of the area of the Andhra offshore KG-D6 block.

The ministry is likely to take the stand that its October 2013 order of relinquishment is in line with provisions of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC), and there is no merit in the notice of arbitration, according to sources.

NEW DELHI: The oil ministry has found as legally and contractually untenable Reliance Industries' notice for arbitration - fifth in a series - against an October 2013 order taking away 81% area of the Andhra offshore KG-D6 block, including several discoveries estimated to hold a trillion cubic feet of gas.

Reliance Industries has claimed allegations of its chairman, Mukesh Ambani, having illegal Swiss Bank accounts are not true. In a communication to its employees, RIL referred to The Indian Express report and said the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists had released an "unsubstantiated stolen information," which is already available with Indian authorities.

"The story published in today (Monday)'s newspaper is based on this information does not reflect true facts.

MUMBAI: Reliance Industries' (RIL's) nationwide 4G spectrum was a deciding factor in State Bank of India (SBI) agreeing to pick up a 30% stake in the payments bank that Mukesh Ambani's flagship company plans to launch. RIL is expected to roll out its 4G services under the name 'Jio' this year and has announced investments of over Rs 70,000 crore in the telecom business.

Explaining the rationale behind partnering the energy giant, SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said, "The payments bank has been brought out by RBI to improve financial inclusion and to ensure ease of small-value payments. This requires a strong technology platform as well as spectrum. RIL has a good pan-India spectrum. They also want to launch a 4G offering which is good for data."

India has for the first time managed to find a place among the top three countries generating most number of billionaires in the world with Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani, heading the Hurun Global Rich List-India 2015 of wealthiest in the country.

The India list gives details of the richest people in the country with a cut off wealth of Rs 6,000 crore. Mukesh Ambani with a a wealth of Rs 1.2 lakh crore tops the list among billionaires in the country, followed by Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharma with an estimated wealth of Rs 1.02 lakh crore.

For a second time in less than two weeks, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is planning to hit the overseas debt market. The company today announced that it will raise $ 750 mn through unsecured notes due 2045. The Notes have been priced at 262.5 basis points over the 30-year US Treasury Note, at a price of 98.865 to yield 4.948%.

The Notes will bear fixed interest of 4.875% p.a. with interest payable semi-annually in arrears and shall rank pari passu with all other unsecured and unsbordinated obligations of the company. The funds will be utilised for its ongoing capital expenditure, RIL said.

Some of India’s top business houses such as Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Aditya Birla Group are among about 100 entities that have applied for payment and small bank licences, the application deadline for which ended on Monday. Bharti Airtel was the first to announce plans for a payment bank licence, through an association with Kotak Mahindra Bank, on Thursday.

Reliance Industries (RIL) kicked off this year’s first benchmark issue of bonds on Thursday by raising $1 billion through a dollar bond issue. The funds would be used for its ongoing capital expenditure, RIL said in a statement.

Despite its rich cash pile (Rs 78,691 crore as of December 2014), RIL prefers to raise debt to finance its ventures. Its cash pile, however, is down from Rs 83,456 crore in December 2013. Between December 2013 and December 2014, RIL’s debt rose from Rs 1,42,084 crore to Rs 1,50,007 crore.

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