Jio jitters for RIL scrip

Mumbai, April 25: The shares of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) today fell more than 2 per cent owing to apprehensions over higher capital expenditure and delay in the commercial launch of 4G services through Reliance Jio Infocomm.

On the BSE, the RIL shares finished with losses of 2.18 per cent, or Rs 22.60, at Rs 1,016.16.

On Friday, the oil giant had bettered analyst estimates by posting a consolidated net profit of Rs 7,398 crore, a growth of almost 16 per cent over the year-ago period. Analysts had expected a profit of around Rs 7,100 crore. The company's standalone numbers were also above analysts' projections.

The stock plunge baffled some who had expected a rally following the strong numbers. However, market circles attributed the fall to a couple of reasons. RIL had hinted that it would launch commercial 4G services from March-April. However, on Friday, the company did not give a specific date for the launch, only to say that it will happen this year.

RIL has put in Rs 120,000 crore to set up a robust 4G network in the country and an additional Rs 30,000 crore will be invested this fiscal. Given such huge investments, market circles maintain that the performance of its digital services will be key to the company's growth in the coming years.

Reliance Jio had launched full-scale 4G services for RIL group employees, partners, vendors and associates on a trial basis on December 28.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)