Reliance Jio could lose $2.1 billion this fiscal year: Bernstein

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., India’s most profitable wireless carrier, could lose as much as ₹150 billion ($2.1 billion) this fiscal year when costs such as handset subsidies are included, said Chris Lane and Samuel Chen, analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

That would be a bigger deficit than those of its larger rivals Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Vodafone Idea Ltd., even though the company known as Jio will probably overcome them over the next 12 months in terms of service revenue and subscribers, the analysts wrote in a note to clients dated Feb. 26. The fiscal year of Jio’s parent, Reliance Industries Ltd. ends March 31.