Jio tariff plans lift RIL shares by 11pc adding Rs 38,761cr

RIL stock zoomed 11 per cent to nearly 9-year high on Wednesday, adding Rs 38,761 crore to its market valuation, after the company's telecom arm Jio said it will begin charging for data services from April.

The stock soared 10.97 per cent to end at Rs 1,207.65, the highest closing since May 29, 2008, on BSE. Intra-day, it had jumped 11.37 per cent to a multi-year high of Rs 1,212. Wednesday's closing price of Rs 1,207.65 was the highest since that day, when it had closed at adjusted price of Rs 1,233.30 (RIL gave a 1:1 bonus on 26 November 2009).

Also, the sharp gain of over 11 per cent in Reliance Industries Ltd scrip was the highest in nearly 8 years. A bigger jump in the scrip last witnessed was 21 per cent gain on May 18, 2009. On NSE, it gained 10.96 per cent to close at Rs 1,207.50. Spurred by index heavyweight RIL, The BSE Sensex rose 103 points to end at over five-month high on Wednesday. The stock has over 7 per cent weight in the 30-share index.

Led by the sharp gain in the stock, the company's market valuation rose sharply by Rs 38,760.88 crore to Rs 3,91,744.88 crore in a single day. With a market capitalisation of Rs 3.91 lakh crore, RIL is now the second largest listed Indian company by valuation.

On the volume front, 33.31 lakh shares of the company were traded on BSE and over two crore shares changed hands at NSE during the day. Rally in RIL shares were also instrumental in sending the benchmark Sensex higher by 103.12 points to end at 28,864.71.

Indices were able to continue the push higher with Reliance surging post Jio's announcements, said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services Ltd.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's telecom unit Reliance Jio will begin charging for data services from April but will give steep discounts for a year to over 100 million customers who have come on board within six months of its launch. While local voice calls, STD and roaming will continue to be free, Ambani promised to match the best offers of rival telecom companies and add 20 per cent more data from April 1.

Also read: After 100M users, Ambani woos Reliance Jio users with ‘Jio Prime Membership’

In a speech on Tuesday, he said Jio has added 100 million subscribers in 170 days since the launch in September last year and the company plans to extend the network to cover 99 per cent of population by this year-end. Jio, which marked Ambani's re-entry in telecom space after a decade will offer existing users unlimited services for a year at a monthly charge of Rs 303 and one-time membership fee of Rs 99.