RCom pledges more shares with Axis Trustee, stock falls 8%

Mumbai: Shares of Reliance CommunicationsNSE 1.67 % fell 8.1% on Monday after Axis Trustee Services, a wholly- owned subsidiary of Axis BankNSE -0.24 %, said Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group pledged more shares of the telecom company with it.

The Reliance Group — which had accused L&T Finance and Edelweiss Group of invoking pledged shares of its companies earlier this month, causing a sharp value erosion in their shares — further pledged 8.15 crore shares, or a 2.95% stake, in RCom with Axis Trustee, according to a regulatory filing. Previously the group had pledged 17.25 crore, or 6.24%, of the company’s shares with Axis Trustee. It pledged extra shares to make up for the fall in the value of shares given as security against loans.

All Reliance Group companies except for Reliance Nippon Life are trading 15-58% lower since February 1. While Reliance PowerNSE -2.71 % shares declined 58% since the beginning of the month, Reliance InfrastructureNSE -0.76 % and RCom have both lost 50%. On Monday, shares of RCom closed at ₹6.01 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.