RIL’s debt-free ambitions to stay on course with latest investment

MUMBAI : Jio Platforms Ltd’s stake sale to Facebook Inc. for ₹43,574 crore will assuage its parent Reliance Industries Ltd’s biggest concern—debt.

RIL had a net debt of ₹1.53 trillion at the group level as on 31 December. The debt has surged in the past few years especially due to the aggressive expansion drive of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.

Following the announcement, Credit Suisse said in a report that Facebook’s investment should put RIL on course to be net-debt-free by March 2021, adding that the investment will also accelerate Jio’s digital monetization drive.