Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom subsidiary of Reliance Industries, is set to launch a $1.5-billion (Rs 9,000 crore) debt issue abroad within weeks of Tata Steel raising over $1 billion.

The funds will be used by Mukesh Ambani's company to refinance its costly debt and to roll out telecom and data services. Reliance joins a number of large companies, including the Essar and Adani groups, which are raising loans abroad as interest rates in India remain high.

The oil ministry is looking at a price of USD 6-6.5 for all domestic natural gas but wants Reliance Industries to sell KG-D6 gas at old rate of USD 4.2 till it makes up for shortfall in supplies of past four years. The ministry last week internally discussed tweaking the formula suggested by the C Rangarajan Committee to bring down the proposed increase from USD 8.4-8.8 per million British thermal unit to USD 6-6.5, a rate that will be affordable to most consumers and also incentivise exploration, sources said.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), India's largest private-sector company, is open to offloading up to 30 per cent stake in its telecom venture, Reliance Jio, to a global strategic partner - a move to unlock value. But the stake sale will be done only after the telecom company has acquired a sizeable customer base.

RIL has already spent close to Rs 33,000 crore in its telecom venture, expected to be launched early next year.

RIL reported a 6% year-on-year growth in standalone profit after tax to Rs 56.5 bn (estimate of R54.4 bn). Consolidated earnings (reported for the first time quarterly) were at R59.6 bn, growth of 14% y-o-y, led by US shale and retail turnaround.

Refining margins at $8.7/bbl marginally beat est of $8.6/bbl, driving Ebit of R37.7 bn (+28% y-o-y, 3% above the rest) But petchem disappointed with Ebit of R18.9 bn (-10% quarter-on-quarter) well below estimates.

An investigation by government agencies is under progress into the alleged violation of rules in investments made by Singapore-based Biometrix Marketing, a Reliance Industries (RIL) group firm.

An indirect subsidiary of Reliance Life Sciences, it had invested Rs 6,500 crore ($1.7 billion at the then foreign exchange rates) in 2007-08 through some exotic instruments in Reliance Gas Transportation, Relogistics Infrastructure, Reliance Ports and Reliance Utilities. The investments were considered to be the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) from Singapore.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on Friday castigated the government’s fuel pricing policy saying it gave undue benefit of Rs 667 crore to Essar Oil and Reliance Industries, and called for renegotiating rates at which diesel is bought from private refiners.

State-owned fuel retailers buy diesel from private refiners as their own production is insufficient to meet domestic demand.

The Union government on Thursday joined the arbitration process initiated by Reliance Industries (RIL) and its partners over delay in revision of the price of natural gas from the Andhra offshore KG-D6 block. It appointed former Supreme Court judge G S Singhvi as its arbitrator.

RIL and its partners, BP Plc of the UK and Niko Resources of Canada, had on May 9 served a pre-arbitration notice on the government, alleging failure to implement the decision on a gas price rise with effect from April 1. This stalling, it said, was preventing sanctioning of investments of around $4 billion.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) said on Wednesday that the government's move to disallow it recovery of certain costs relating to the D6 gas block in the Krishna-Godavari basin (KG-D6) did not amount to a penalty and was also not in line with the contract the two had signed.

In a statement issued on the BSE exchange on the penalty, imposed by the government for falling KG-D6 output, it said, “RIL and its partners believe the purported rationale of the government, in proportionately disallowing the cost in the ratio of actual production to the estimated production from D1-D3 fields in KG-D6 is not as per the Production Sharing Contract (PSC).”

With development of three gas finds in Reliance Industries' KG-D6 block held up due to a technical dispute, the petroleum ministry is seeking Cabinet nod to relax timelines to allow the firm retain and produce from the discoveries worth $1.45 billion.

The Oil Ministry is seeking Cabinet nod to allow Reliance Industries to retain three gas discoveries worth $1.45 billion in the eastern offshore KG-D6 block even after expiry of timelines.

RIL has not been able to submit a development plan for D-29, 30 and 31 gas discoveries, which hold an estimated 345 billion cubic feet of reserves, with the prescribed timelines due to dispute with the upstream regulator DGH over tests required to confirm them.

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