RIL spikes 4% on buzz around stake sale in Reliance Retail

NEW DELHI: Oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries spiked about 4 per cent to record highs on Thursday on buzz around Amazon picking a strategic minority stake in its subsidiary Reliance Retail.

The stock closed at a record high of Rs 2,076, up 3.59 per cent on the NSE. Thanks to the rise in prices, the valuation of the company rose to Rs 13.16 lakh crore.

Amazon.com Inc is in talks to buy a 9.9 per cent stake in the retail arm of Indian conglomerate, ET Now reported, citing sources. Amazon wants a preferred, strategic stake in Reliance Retail for JioMart.

JioMart, the e-commerce venture of Reliance's retail arm, was launched in May and poses a formidable challenge to Amazon.com's local unit and Walmart Inc's Flipkart.

Last week, at the annual general meeting of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani had said it will raise money by selling stake in the retail arm. He also announced plans of scaling JioMart to a much bigger level by including more local shops.

Earlier this year, Amazon India launched a program to add small local shops on its platform after India went into a lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.

Meanwhile, Mukesh Ambani became the fifth-richest in the world, climbing two ranks from barely a couple of weeks ago. Forbes values his wealth at $77.3 billion.