RIL sets Jio Fin's demerger date, gains 4.6%; m-cap tops Rs 18.5 lakh cr

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Reliance Industries (RIL) shares on Monday after the oil-to-telecom conglomerate announced July 20 as the record date to demerge its financial services vertical, Jio Financial Services (JFS), as part of a value unlocking exercise. The stock jumped as much as 4.65% — its biggest single day gain in over three months — to a 52-week high of ₹2,756 in Monday's trading. RIL shares closed at ₹2,735.25 apiece, up 3.86% from the previous close.

Over 2 crore RIL shares exchanged hands on the BSE and NSE, four times its combined average daily volume for the last month, exchange data showed. «JFS will become the fifth-largest financial services company in India by sheer size of its net-worth and has significant scope for balance-sheet expansion given its large distribution network as it has access to huge amounts of data — similar to global conglomerates such as Alibaba, Amazon, Apple, Google,» said Suresh Ganapathy, head of financial services research at Macquarie Capital. «Banks are still the best way to play India's financial theme,» Ganapathy said.

«JFS' impact on (India's) banking sector could be a bit more moderate as banks have significant cost of funds advantage and ability to do a lot more business that NBFCs cannot do.» On Saturday, RIL announced the record date to allot JFS' shares to shareholders via Reliance Strategic Investments (RSIL). Eligible shareholders will receive 1 share of RSIL for every 1 share of RIL. Under the deal, RSIL will be renamed as Jio Financial Services (JFSL) which will be listed for trading on stock exchanges.