Reliance Raises 290 Billion Rupees in Third Quarter, Mint Says

By Subramaniam Sharma

Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Reliance Industries Ltd. raised about 290 billion rupees ($6 billion) in the quarter ending Dec. 31, the Mint reported, without saying where it got the information.

The funds include contributions by the company’s main founder and money raised through debt, the newspaper said. Reliance may use the cash for projects, acquisitions or to make up for treasury losses incurred from trading in crude oil futures, the report said, citing six analysts it didn’t identify.

Paresh Chaudhry, a spokesman at Reliance Industries, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail and messages left on his mobile phone.

Reliance, which runs the world’s sixth-biggest oil refinery, said last month it’s about to start the new refinery that will almost double its capacity. The company had reported profit growth in the three months to Sept. 30 at the slowest pace in at least 10 quarters after earnings from processing crude oil fell.

Shares of Reliance Industries have declined 53 percent this year, compared with the 50 percent drop in the benchmark Sensitive index of the Bombay Stock Exchange.

In October, Mukesh Ambani paid 168.2 billion rupees to buy shares in Reliance, converting 120 million warrants he was allotted in February 2007.

Edelweiss Capital Ltd. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have said they arranged about 30 billion rupees for Reliance this month, Mint reported. And ICICI Bank Ltd. and Axis Bank Ltd. separately raised 10 billion rupees each for Reliance, the newspaper reported, citing analysts it didn’t name.

Refinery Expansion

Ambani’s Reliance Petroleum Ltd. unit is building an export-oriented 580,000 barrel-a-day refinery adjacent to the existing 660,000-barrrel-a-day plant owned by Reliance Industries. The units will form the world’s largest refining complex, according to Reliance.

Reliance Industries in September said it aims to supply more than 40 percent of India’s oil and gas requirements in about 18 months.

Ambani is investing $5.2 billion to develop the Krishna- Godavari basin, the field that’s expected to more than double India’s gas output. Asia’s third-biggest economy imports 70 percent of its energy needs and doesn’t produce enough natural gas to meet demand from power and fertilizer makers.

The company will use the money to pay for exploration and production and future projects, the newspaper said, citing two company executives it didn’t identify. It cited one of them confirming the amount of money raised during the quarter.

To contact the reporter on this story: Subramaniam Sharma in New Delhi at ssharma@bloomberg.net.