RELIANCE

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, June 12 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Foreign money managers are pouring into India to cater to the rising rich. Many of them may find success easier to come by than they did in neighbouring China.

The race kicked off in earnest this week when BlackRock BLK.N won regulatory approval to launch a wealth business, within a month of securing a go-ahead for its mutual fund operations. The world’s largest asset manager led by Larry Fink is back in the country after exiting a local joint venture in 2018. This time the U.S. firm is in partnership with Jio Financial Services JIOF.NS, an upstart spun off from tycoon Mukesh Ambani’s $227 billion Reliance Industries RELI.NS.

Others present also are digging deeper to tap everyday savers. Armed with a new licence, HSBC HSBA.L will push into 20 new cities in search of wealth clients. Its rival Standard Chartered STAN.L is pivoting toward affluent clients and away from single product relationships. Meanwhile, Blackstone bought wealth services provider ASK Investment Managers in 2022, whose parent now plans to launch a mutual fund.

Underway is a dramatic shift in how Indians put money to work. Households' net financial wealth, after deducting liabilities, rose 249% to $3 trillion over the nearly 12 years to the end of March 2023, per researchers at the Reserve Bank of India. Bank deposits account for 43% of financial assets, down from 51% in March 2012.

In effect, households are moving deposits into riskier instruments. Pumped up by a high-voltage marketing campaign targeting mom-and-pop savers, the mutual fund industry’s net assets under management stood at 72 trillion rupees ($845 billion) as of May, rising 22.5% year-on-year. Mutual funds’ share of net financial savings was 8.4% at the end of March 2023, up from less than 1% a decade ago, per data from industry group Association of Mutual Funds in India and research firm Crisil Intelligence. And there’s plenty of runway for growth; the industry counts just 3% of the population as customers.

Beyond everyday savers, the number of Indian ultra-high net worth individuals will increase to 19,908, a 50% increase during the five years to 2028, property consultancy Knight Frank reckons, faster than in any other geography. There’s also rising interest from richer parts of the 35 million-strong Indian diaspora living to invest at home.

To be sure, by some measure India currently has just one twelfth of the investable wealth assets under management that China had in 2020. Ping An Asset Management alone shepherds funds nearly equivalent in value to those of the entire Indian asset management industry. Yet the smaller opportunity may be easier for Western financial firms hungry for growth to tap.

A sluggish economy, poor stock market returns, and geopolitical tensions dim the allure of China. Asset managers including Fidelity and Schroders have cut costs and scaled back expansion plans in the People’s Republic. India not only saw GDP growth of 7.4% in the March quarter, but its stock market is booming too.

Unlike in China where equities have miserably failed to reflect decades of strong economic growth, Indian stocks are better correlated to GDP. Mutual fund investors in India are largely equity-oriented; in China, 68% of flows were into fixed income instruments in 2022, per Fitch Ratings.

Of course, local competition is formidable. There are 51 mutual fund houses, and the largest by assets under management are backed by Indian banks with a foreign partner: State Bank of India’s SBI.NS joint venture with France’s Amundi AMUN.PA leads, followed by ICICI Bank ICBK.NS with Prudential PRU.L.

What’s new is the potential for digitisation to drive down high expenses. Thanks to a distributor-led model, the asset-weighted median expense ratio for equity funds, a measure of cost, was 1.78% in India, higher than 1.75% for China and 1.37% for Korea in 2022, data from Morningstar shows.

In partnering with Jio Financial, whose telecom affiliate counts 477 million subscribers, BlackRock probably sees an opportunity to scale up quickly and use technology to cut out the middleman. Only 41% of mutual funds' assets under management are sourced directly from investors, per AMFI and Crisil Intelligence, and the share is probably lower by number of accounts.

If executed well, the BlackRock-Jio duo will disrupt the status quo and eat into the business of homegrown technology-led brokers like Zerodha and the soon-to-go-public Groww, which sells one in every four “systematic-investment plans” where individuals commit a fixed amount, usually monthly, to mutual funds. Both privately-owned companies might be worth up to $7 billion each. Singapore's StashAway, backed by Hamilton Lane and others, has secured over $1 billion in assets under management through digital sourcing within just four years of its launch in 2017.

Not everyone feels the prize is within reach. Some of the new strategic partnerships emerging look more like an exit. UBS UBSG.S is acquiring 5% of Mumbai-listed $5 billion 360 One ONEW.NS and is transferring the onshore wealth business it inherited through the acquisition of Credit Suisse to the Indian group. The Swiss bank closed its own Indian wealth business roughly a decade ago.

The India opportunity also has some hard-looking longer-term limits. The real value BlackRock might bring to the table for Indian investors probably rests in deploying their money offshore. That edge is dulled by capital controls; New Delhi imposes a $250,000 limit on sending money overseas. That looks more liberal than Beijing’s long-standing limit of $50,000, but India has ramped up taxes on outbound remittances exceeding $11,700. For now, at least, there is plenty to do within India.

Follow Shritama Bose on LinkedIn and X.

(Editing by Una Galani; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

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Updates with new, more detailed statement from Shein

By Dhwani Pandya and Helen Reid

MUMBAI/LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) - Fashion retailer Shein and partner Reliance Retail plan to rapidly expand their Indian supplier base and start international sales of India-made Shein-branded clothes within six to 12 months, said two people with knowledge of the matter.

The China-founded, Singapore-headquartered Shein has been discussing plans with the Indian retailer since before the U.S. imposed tariffs on Chinese imports that intensified the need to diversify sourcing, the people said. The aim is to raise Indian suppliers to 1,000 from 150 within a year, they said.

In a statement to Reuters, Shein said its partnership with Reliance was limited to the licensing of its brand to Reliance Retail for Indian domestic consumption only. Reliance did not respond to queries.

Shein sells low-priced apparel such as $5 dresses and $10 jeans shipped directly from 7,000 suppliers in China to customers in around 150 countries. Its biggest market is the U.S. where it is adjusting to tariffs on low-value e-commerce packages from China which could previously be imported duty free.

The retailer launched in India in 2018 but its app was banned in 2020 as part of government action against China-linked firms amid border tension with its northeastern neighbour.

It returned in February under a licensing deal with the Reliance Industries RELI.NS unit which launched SheinIndia.in selling Shein-branded clothes produced in local factories. In contrast, Shein's other websites mainly list goods from China.

Reliance, controlled by Asia's richest person, Mukesh Ambani, has contracted 150 garment manufacturers and is in discussion with 400 more, said the two people, declining to be identified due to confidentiality concerns.

The goal is 1,000 Indian factories making Shein-branded clothes within a year for both the Indian market and to service some of Shein's global websites, the people said.

Shein initially wants to list India-made clothes on its U.S. and British websites, one of the people said. Discussions have been ongoing for months and the launch time of six to 12 months could change depending on supplier numbers, the person said.

The scale of supplier expansion and export time frame is being reported for the first time.

Shein has licensed its brand for domestic use to Reliance which "is responsible for manufacturing, supply chain, sales and operations in the Indian market alone," Shein said in a statement.

In December, Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal told parliament that the Shein-Reliance partnership aimed to create a network of Indian suppliers of Shein-branded clothes for sale "domestically and globally".

ON-DEMAND MANUFACTURING

Shein is a fast-fashion behemoth earning annual revenue of more than $30 billion through low prices and aggressive marketing. Most of its products are from China with some made in countries such as Turkey and Brazil.

Its expansion in India mirrors interest in the country from the likes of Walmart WMT.N and others throughout the global fashion and retail industries, particularly those looking for suppliers outside China due to the U.S.-China trade war.

The Shein India app has been downloaded 2.7 million times across Apple and Google Play stores, averaging 120% on-month growth since its launch, data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower showed.

Offerings during its first four months have reached 12,000 designs, a fraction of the 600,000 products on Shein's U.S. site. In the women's dresses category, its cheapest item was priced at 349 Indian rupees ($4) compared to $3.39 on the U.S. site as of June 9.

Shein's Indian partner Reliance, which operates the app, is working with suppliers to assess whether they can replicate Shein's global best-sellers at lower cost, the two people said.

Reliance aims to emulate Shein's on-demand manufacturing model, asking suppliers to make as few as 100 pieces per design before increasing production of those that sell well, they said.

Executives from Reliance recently visited China to understand Shein's "innovative" supply chain operations, "data driven" design processes and "disruptive" digital marketing, Manish Aziz, assistant vice president Shein India at Reliance Retail, said in a LinkedIn post in which he called Shein's scale and speed "truly incredible".

The partnership is one of dozens Reliance has with fashion brands, such as Brooks Brothers and Marks and Spencer MKS.L. The firm also runs e-commerce site Ajio and its retail network competes with Amazon AMZN.O and Walmart's Flipkart as well as value retailers such as Tata's Zudio.

Reliance plans to work with new suppliers to source fabric - especially fabric made using synthetic fibres where India lacks expertise - and import required machinery, the people said. The firm will invest in suppliers and help them grow which in turn will help the Shein-Reliance partnership go global, they said.

(Reporting by Dhwani Pandya in Mumbai and Helen Reid in London; Editing by Aditya Kalra, Christopher Cushing and Kate Mayberry)

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By Arathy Somasekhar, Georgina McCartney and Trixie Yap

HOUSTON/SINGAPORE, June 6 (Reuters) - Over half a dozen U.S.-loaded ethane vessels, originally bound for China, have stalled around the U.S. Gulf Coast after Washington requested U.S. exporters seek licenses to ship the shale gas to the top buyer, according to trade sources and ship tracking data on Friday.

Around half of all U.S. ethane exports head to China, and the halt in flows has pushed ethane prices lower on worries of domestic oversupply and is likely to cut into profits of top ethane producers.

Energy Transfer ET.N and Enterprise Products Partners EPD.N, two of the largest ethane producers and exporters, have warned the disruptions could impact their exports. The U.S. Commerce Department has also denied some vessels emergency authorization requests to export to China.

Liberia-flagged STL Qianjiang, which loaded at Energy Transfer's Nederland terminal for China's Satellite Chemical 002648.SZ, was anchored off the coast on Friday in the Gulf, according to LSEG and Kpler ship tracking data.

Energy Transfer, which produces ethane by extracting it from natural gas and then exports it from terminals along the Gulf Coast, said it received a letter from the U.S. Commerce Department on June 3 requiring the company to apply for a license to ship ethane to China.

The company and Satellite Chemical did not reply to requests for comments on the vessel.

Three other vessels, which were set to load in early June, were anchored in the U.S. Gulf near Houston and Port Arthur, Texas, while three others hovered further south in the water after having slowed down.

Meanwhile, Liberia-flagged very large ethane carrier (VLEC) Pacific Ineos Grenadier, which loaded at Enterprise Products Partners' EPD.N terminal in Morgan's Point, Texas, and had been originally destined for China, was anchored at an Enterprise dock along the Houston Ship Channel on Friday after heading away from the Gulf Coast on Thursday.

The ship had not discharged on Friday afternoon and it was not immediately clear if it would. Enterprise has natural gas liquids storage facilities along the ship channel.

The vessel, a part of British petrochemical firm Ineos' fleet, has been used by the company exclusively for transit between the United States and China since August 2023, according to Kpler data.

Enterprise Products Partners EPD.N received the license requirement letter in late May, and on Wednesday said it received a notice from the U.S. government of its intent to deny emergency requests for three proposed export cargoes of ethane totaling around 2.2 million barrels to China.

Enterprise has 20 days to respond to the denial, it said on Wednesday. Unless otherwise notified by the government by the 45th day after receiving the notification, the denials will become final.

Enterprise and Ineos declined to comment.

"With the curbs on U.S. ethane (exports), these ships are now struggling to move any cargo. So they are either just drifting out at sea or in a neutral direction hoping things resolve themselves with the recent meeting between U.S. and China," an executive at a ship brokering firm said.

'NO IMMEDIATE ALTERNATIVE MARKETS'

U.S. ethane production touched a record 2.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024, according to the Energy Information Administration, and was expected to rise to 3.1 million bpd by next year. Most of the output growth was expected to be exported to meet international demand as domestic consumption will likely hold steady.

Exports also climbed to a record 492,000 bpd last year, of which about 227,000 bpd, or 46%, headed to China.

"These are distressed cargoes at this point. I would expect these to have been sold at significant discounts," said Uday Turaga, founder of energy research and consulting firm ADI Analytics.

"Without China, there are no immediate alternative markets for vast U.S. ethane exports, directly impacting prices and profit for major U.S. producers due to specialized trade contracts," he said.

The letters from the Bureau of Industry and Security, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, said exports of ethane pose an unacceptable risk of military end-use in China, according to both companies' filings.

Chinese petrochemical firms use ethane as a feedstock because it is a cheaper alternative than naphtha, while U.S. oil and gas producers need China to buy their natural gas liquids as domestic supply exceeds demand.

(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar and Georgina McCartney in Houston, Siyi Liu and Trixie Yap in Singapore; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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Updates for morning trade

By Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran

June 5 (Reuters) - India's benchmark indexes climbed in early trade on Thursday, led by gains in pharmaceutical stocks and heavyweight Reliance Industries, while lower U.S. Treasury yields and a weaker dollar lent support.

The Nifty 50 .NSEI and the BSE Sensex .BSESN both climbed 0.5% each to 24,733.8 and 81,379.72 points, respectively, as of 10:25 a.m. IST.

Barring the state-run banks, all major sectors were in the green. The broader, more domestically focussed smallcap .NIFSMCP100 and midcap .NIFMDCP100 stocks rose 0.8% and 0.5%, respectively.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories REDY.NS jumped about 3% on collaboration with biotech company Alvotech ALVO.O to develop cancer drug Keytruda's biosimilar for global markets.

The stock pushed the pharma index .NIPHARM higher by about 1%, making it the biggest sectoral gainer so far on the day.

Separately, Zydus ZYDU.NS gained 2.7% after its cancer drug partnership with Agenus and Glenmark GLEN.NS added 2.3% after its myeloma drug delivered a high response in the phase 1 trial, boosting the sub-index further.

Reliance Industries RELI.NS added 1.3%, marking the second consecutive session of gains for the oil-to-telecom conglomerate.

Brokerage firm JP Morgan said Reliance Industries' earnings for the next two years would be better compared with the last two due to growth expected in retail and telecom businesses.

The market's overall positive momentum was bolstered by its Asian peers, which crept higher while the U.S. dollar and Treasury yields languished. MKTS/GLOB

The drop in yields will turn out to be good for emerging markets like India in the medium term, but the spike in trade and geopolitical uncertainty will keep the market within a range for the near term, said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments.

Yields move inversely to prices, and lower yields lead investors to seek higher returns in equities, boosting emerging markets like India.

Investors in India are waiting for the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) policy decision on Friday, when the domestic central bank is widely expected to cut key lending rates by 25 basis points for the third straight meeting.

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Janane Venkatraman)

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Adds Lone Star's response in paragraph 4

May 28 (Reuters) - BP's BP.L Castrol lubricants business is attracting interest from companies such as India's Reliance Industries RELI.NS, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The business has also attracted interest from buyout firms Apollo Global Management APO.N and Lone Star Funds, the report said, adding that a deal could fetch between $8 billion and $10 billion.

BP has sent out initial information to other potential bidders for the unit, including Brookfield Asset Management BAM.TO and Stonepeak Partners, it added.

BP, Apollo Global and Lone Star declined to comment, while Reliance Industries did not immediately respond outside business hours in India.

The bidders would join Saudi Aramco 2222.SE in considering bids for all or part of the business. Reuters reported last week that BP is seeking buyers for its Castrol unit, citing sources.

(Reporting by Unnamalai L in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)

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MUMBAI, May 27 (Reuters) - India's Jio Credit has accepted bids worth 10.30 billion rupees ($120.7 million) for bonds maturing in three years, bankers said on Tuesday.

The company will pay an annual coupon of 7.08% on this issue and had invited bids from bankers and investors earlier in the day, they said.

This is the second bond issue by the company in two weeks. It raised 10 billion rupees earlier this month through bonds maturing in 2 years and 10 months at a 7.19% coupon.

Jio Credit, formerly know known as Jio Finance, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio Financial Services. Jio Credit did not immediately reply to a Reuters email for comment.

Here is the list of deals reported so far on May 27:

*Size includes base plus greenshoe for some issues

($1 = 85.3460 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia; Editing by Varun H K)

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MUMBAI, May 26 (Reuters) - India's Jio Credit's plans to raise 15 billion rupees ($176.5 million), which includes a greenshoe option of 5 billion rupees, through sale of bonds maturing in three years, bankers said on Monday.

The company has invited bids from bankers and investors for the issue on Tuesday, they said.

Jio Credit, formerly know known as Jio Finance, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio Financial Services.

This would be the second bond issue by the company within a span of two weeks. It raised 10 billion rupees through bonds maturing in 2 years and 10 months at 7.19% coupon earlier this month.

Jio Credit did not immediately reply to a Reuters email for comment.

Here is the list of deals reported so far on May 26:

*Size includes base plus greenshoe for some issues

($1 = 84.9950 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)

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Changes media packaging code, recasts first paragraph, adds investment targets for Reliance Industries in paragraphs 4-5

May 23 (Reuters) - Indian conglomerates led by billionaires Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani said in separate statements on Friday that they will invest more money to develop their projects in the country's northeast region.

The Adani Group will invest 500 billion rupees ($5.84 billion) over the next decade to develop infrastructure, including roads and highways, as well as green energy projects such as hydro and pumped storage, chairman Gautam Adani said at an industry event in New Delhi.

Earlier this year, he announced his ports-to-power conglomerate will invest 500 billion rupees in the northeastern state of Assam to expand airports, roads and gas distribution.

Reliance Industries, which has invested 300 billion rupees in the region so far, is aiming to increase it to as much as 750 billion rupees in the next five years, chairman Mukesh Ambani said at the same event.

The oil-to-retail group will set up 350 biogas plants in the region and will build factories to produce fast-moving consumer goods, he added.

($1 = 85.6880 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)

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By Sarita Chaganti Singh and Aditya Kalra

NEW DELHI, May 14 (Reuters) - Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani will meet U.S. President Donald Trump and the emir of Qatar in Doha on Wednesday, two sources told Reuters, as his company Reliance Industries RELI.NS looks to foster ties with authorities in both nations.

Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, QIA, has invested in Reliance businesses over the years, and Ambani, who is Asia's richest man, has many business partnerships with the likes of U.S. tech giants such as Google GOOGL.O and Meta META.O.

Ambani will attend a state dinner for Trump at the Lusail Palace in Doha, but did not plan to hold any investment or business discussions, said the first source, who had direct knowledge of the matter.

Another London-based Indian business leader close to the Trump and Qatar administrations will also attend, said both the sources, without identifying the individual.

Further details of Ambani's agenda were not clear. Reliance did not immediately respond to Reuters' queries.

In February, Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani visited India, where his country has committed to invest $10 billion across various industries.

Trump will travel to the United Arab Emirates from Qatar on Thursday in a trip that is focused on investment rather than security matters in the Middle East.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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Adds details on pricing for satellite spectrum in paragraph 3-5, background throughout

May 9 (Reuters) - India's telecom regulator has recommended allotting satellite spectrum for commercial communication services for five years, it said on Friday, at a time when Elon Musk is getting closer to launching his Starlink high-speed internet in the country.

The recommendation also includes a possibility to extend an initial five-year spectrum allocation by a further two years depending on market conditions, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)said.

The telecom watchdog also recommended charging telecom operators 4% of their adjusted gross revenue for geostationary orbit-based fixed satellite services and for mobile satellite services.

This is subject to a minimum annual spectrum charge of 3,500 rupees ($41) per megahertz (MHz), according to TRAI.

For non-geostationary orbit-based fixed satellite services, an additional 500 rupees per subscriber per annum in urban areas should be charged, exempting rural and remote areas, it said.

The recommendations come as Elon Musk is working towards launching Starlink in India. Musk has urged New Delhi to allot spectrum for 20 years to focus on "affordable pricing and longer-term business plans," according to Starlink's public submissions.

TRAI had agreed to demands for a lower licence time-frame to see how the sector grows, Reuters had reported in March, citing a government source.

Musk and Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani signed a partnership in March that would allow Starlink devices to be sold in Ambani's Reliance RELI.NS stores, giving it access to a large distributor.

Ambani and Musk had previously been rivals - Ambani's telco subsidiary had unsuccessfully lobbied New Delhi for months to auction spectrum rather than allot it administratively, as Musk wanted.

Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS, India's No. 2 telco, has also pushed for a three-to-five year period for the licence. Bharti Airtel and Musk have also signed a distribution deal for Starlink.

($1 = 85.3610 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru. Editing by Aidan Lewis, Mark Potter and Susan Fenton)

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Updates with background paragraph 2 onwards

May 8 (Reuters) - The Indian government has agreed to a conditional nod for SpaceX's Starlink to start offering satellite-based internet services in the country, television news channel CNBC-TV18 reported on Thursday.

Starlink and the Indian Department of Telecommunications did not immediately respond to Reuters emails asking for comment.

Starlink in March signed agreements with Indian telecom operators Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS, Vodafone Idea VODA.NS and Reliance Industries RELI.NS Jio, in moves that would give the U.S. firm greater access to the world's most populous nation.

Elon Musk and Mukesh Ambani, who chairs the Reliance conglomerate, were at loggerheads over how airwaves should be assigned for satellite internet, with New Delhi finally siding with the allocation approach the U.S. billionaire lobbied for.

Starlink has been waiting since 2022 for licenses to operate commercially in India. New Delhi had long-delayed clearances for reasons including national security concerns.

(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey and Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)

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May 5 (Reuters) - Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd ONGC.NS:

• SHELL, RELIANCE, AND ONGC COMPLETE OFFSHORE FACILITIES DECOMMISSIONING PROJECT - STATEMENT

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: ONGC.NS

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** Shares of Reliance Industries RELI.NS rise 1%, among top gainers on Nifty 50 .NSEI, which is up 0.4%

** Stock has risen 8.04% this week, on course for biggest weekly gains since May 2022

** RELI reported Q4 profit above estimates on April 25; stock has risen for the four sessions since

** Retail growth, likely listing of Jio, improvement in O2C profitability are key triggers for RELI's shares in FY26, multiple brokerages say

** Average rating of 33 analysts is "buy"; median target price is 1,546.5 rupees, 9% above current levels - data compiled by LSEG

** After falling 6% last year, RELI shares have gained 15.6% in 2025 so far

** Nifty rose 8.8% in 2024 and is up 3.1% in 2025 so far

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)

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Adds details on the vessel in paragraph 2, background on cancellations

HOUSTON, May 1 (Reuters) - A vessel chartered by Chevron CVX.N carrying some 300,000 barrels of Venezuelan oil was set to start discharging at a Venezuelan port on Thursday, according to shipping data and a source.

It would be the last tanker to return its cargo following state company PDVSA's order to return the crude amid payment uncertainty related to U.S. sanctions.

The Marshall Islands-flagged vessel, Dubai Attraction, on Thursday entered a berth in Amuay terminal, Venezuela, to start discharging the cargo it originally intended to export, LSEG shipping data showed.

Chevron and PDVSA did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who is also the OPEC country's oil minister, has blamed the U.S. measures for the issue, saying they prevented Chevron from paying for the oil.

Venezuela's oil exports fell almost 20% in April to 700,000 barrels per day, the lowest in nine months, due to the cargo cancellations. Chevron's exports of Venezuelan crude to the U.S. plummeted 69% to some 66,000 bpd due to PDVSA's measures.

Some tankers Chevron had chartered to move crude from Venezuela to the U.S. were marketed for spot contracts elsewhere, sources said last week. This signaled that Chevron does not expect to load all the cargoes it typically ships from Venezuela even if it eventually finds a way to resolve the disagreement with PDVSA.

In March, President Donald Trump's administration revoked a license issued in 2022 by the U.S. Treasury Department for Chevron to operate in Venezuela. The May deadline was granted to wind down operations and oil exports.

The same deadline was granted to other partners of PDVSA, including Eni ENI.MI, Repsol REP.MC, Maurel & Prom MAUP.PA and Reliance Industries RELI.NS, to wind down oil cargoes bound for Europe and Asia.

Tankers chartered by trading house Vitol VITOLV.UL were loading and discharging normally at Venezuelan ports, according to the data and documents, while vessels chartered by Reliance Industries for India delivery and Maurel & Prom for Europe departed on schedule last week, ahead of the May 27 deadline to wind down cargoes and operations.

(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by Chris Reese and David Gregorio)

(([email protected]; +1 832 610 7346; Twitter: @ArathySom;))

** Indian benchmark indexes traded flat on Wednesday, with gains in index heavyweights HDFC Bank HDBK.NS and Reliance Industries RELI.NS offsetting broader losses

** HDBK, RELI up about 1% each

** Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi grants military chiefs freedom to respond to last week's deadly militant attack in Kashmir

** India has identified three attackers, including two Pakistani nationals, as "terrorists" waging a violent revolt in Kashmir; Islamabad has denied any role and says intelligence suggests Indian military action likely soon

** While anxiety may persist in the near term due to tensions with Pakistan, markets tend to stabilise going by history, says ICICI Securities

** Bajaj Finance BJFN.NS falls 5.5% despite higher Q4 profits; brokerages flag weak pre-provision profit and high credit costs as key negatives

** Automaker Tata Motors TAMO.NS drops 3% following multiple block deals executed at a discount

** Broader markets underperform, with small-cap .NIFSMCP100 and mid-cap indexes .NIFMDCP100 down 0.9% and 0.2%, respectively

** Nifty up 3.6% in April so far, set for second straight monthly rise

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; +91 9769003463;))

** Reliance Industries RELI.NS climbs 2.6% to 1,405 rupees

** Stock extends gains after fourth-quarter results to 8%, marking its best two-day gains since May 2021

** At least 13 of 32 analysts tracking RELI raised their PT and a dozen upgraded stock post results on Monday, per data compiled by LSEG

** Stock rated "buy" on avg

** RELI up 17.3% in April; set for its best month since January 2024

** YTD, stock gains 16%

(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru)

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Updates for markets close

By Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran

April 28 (Reuters) - Indian shares rose on Monday, lifted by better-than-expected earnings from Reliance Industries and steady foreign inflows, helping markets shrug off some risk-off sentiment amid India-Pakistan tensions.

The Nifty 50 .NSEI added 1.2% to 24,328.5 and the BSE Sensex .BSESN gained 1.27% to 80,218.37.

Reliance Industries RELI.NS jumped 5.26% and hit a six-month high, contributing a third to the Nifty 50's gains after its fourth-quarter profit beat prompted analysts to upgrade the stock and hike their price targets.

Despite tensions between India and Pakistan after the attack in Kashmir last week, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained buyers of Indian stocks for the eighth consecutive session on Friday, further aiding sentiment.

"There was a lot of fear that something could happen on the border. The fact that nothing (major) has happened has given some hope to the market," said G Chokkalingam, founder and head of research at Equinomics Research.

Besides this, expectations of a bilateral trade agreement between India and the U.S., New Delhi's relative resilience to tariffs compared to China and interest in attractively valued large-caps such as Reliance could keep markets buoyant, Chokkalingam said.

Heavyweight financials .NIFTYFIN, which have significant foreign investor exposure, rose 1% on Monday, while IT .NIFTYIT closed 0.2% lower. The IT index gained 6.6% last week.

The broader mid- .NIFMDCP100 and small-caps .NIFSMCP100 rose 0.8% and 1.6%, respectively.

Among other stocks, Mahindra & Mahindra MAHM.NS jumped 2.3% and was among the top six Nifty gainers after it announced plans to acquire a majority stake in SML Isuzu SMLI.NS for 5.55 billion rupees.

However, SML Isuzu tumbled 10% as the deal valued its shares at a 63.3% discount to Friday's closing price.

Defence stocks .NIFTYINDDEFENCE jumped 4.1%. India signed a deal with France on Monday to buy 26 Rafale fighter aircraft worth $7.41 billion for its navy, an official from India's defence ministry told Reuters.

($1 = 85.3400 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran; Editing by Janane Venkatraman, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Sonia Cheema)

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** Reliance Industries RELI.NS, the third-heaviest stock on Indian benchmarks, falls 0.6% ahead of Q4 results

** Stock had opened 1.5% higher

** Analysts expect the Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate to post a 0.13% Y/Y fall in Q4 net profit to 189.27 bln rupees ($2.21 bln), as per data compiled by LSEG

** Brokerage Elara says earnings of refiners such as Reliance would be hit with falling crude oil prices and refining or petchem margin

** Co beat profit estimates in Q3, driven by festive retail demand and higher telecom tariffs while adding 5G users

** 32 analysts covering the stock on avg have a "buy" rating; median PT is 1,550 rupees - LSEG data

** RELI gains ~7% in 2025

($1 = 85.6070 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru)

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Adds Venezuelan oil minister's reply in paragraph 9

By Arathy Somasekhar

HOUSTON, April 23 (Reuters) - Some tankers Chevron had chartered to move crude from Venezuela to the U.S. this month are now being marketed for spot contracts elsewhere, sources said, after state company PDVSA canceled loading permits and ordered the firm to return cargoes amid payment uncertainty related to sanctions.

The marketing of the vessels indicates that Chevron does not expect to load all the cargoes it typically ships from Venezuela in a month even if it eventually finds a way to resolve the disagreement with PDVSA.

Tanker Sea Dragon, which had discharged Venezuela's Boscan heavy crude in Philadelphia, was being marketed by Agelef Maritime Services, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Chevron was marketing vessel Andromeda, which earlier this month discharged Venezuelan Hamaca crude at Port Arthur, the sources added.

At least six more tankers Chevron had chartered to carry Venezuelan crude to the U.S. in coming weeks as part of the wind down of its U.S. license through May 27 were stalled in the Caribbean Sea waiting for directions after PDVSA last week ordered two cargoes to be returned and canceled loading permits to others, cutting the deadline short.

As of Wednesday, Chevron-chartered tanker Dubai Attraction, which finished loading some 300,000 barrels of Venezuelan Boscan crude in early April, was still awaiting customs paperwork to return its cargo, according to ship tracking data and sources.

Carina Voyager, managed by a Chevron unit, was near Aruba after returning its 500,000-barrel cargo to PDVSA last week, LSEG shipping data showed.

Sea Jaguar's loading window at Venezuela's Jose terminal, originally scheduled for mid-April, was canceled by PDVSA, according to a document seen by Reuters. The ship was on Wednesday hovering around Aruba, according to tracking data.

Chevron and PDVSA did not reply to requests for comment. Venezuela Oil Minister Delcy Rodriguez said in a social media post that PDVSA "maintains its commitments with Chevron," but Chevron is the "victim" of U.S. sanctions.

Other tankers chartered by trading house Vitol VITOLV.UL were loading and discharging normally at Venezuelan ports, according to the data and documents, while vessels chartered by Reliance Industries RELI.NS for India delivery and Maurel & Prom MAUP.PA for Europe departed on schedule, ahead of the May 27 deadline to wind down cargoes and operations.

(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by Franklin Paul and David Gregorio)

(([email protected]; +1 832 610 7346; Twitter: @ArathySom;))

STOCKHOLM, April 22 (Reuters) - Sweden's Ericsson ERICb.ST is planning to manufacture all its telecom antennas for the Indian market in the country, the company said on Tuesday.

Demand from India's telecom companies started to skyrocket in 2023, as Bharti Airtel and Jio, the telecom unit of Reliance Industries, started to scale up 5G services, and cushioned a slowdown of orders from the United States, Ericsson's top market.

Ericsson, which started manufacturing in India in 1994, will localize all its passive antenna production for the Indian market by June, it said in a statement. It also has manufacturing facilities in Mexico, Romania and China.

The company expects to export a significant portion of the antennas manufactured in India after meeting domestic needs, it said.

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm, editing by Louise Rasmussen)

(([email protected]; +46 70 721 1004; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

BENGALURU, April 18 (Reuters) - Reliance Industries RELI.NS on Friday said it will consider raising funds via issuance of non-convertible debentures at a board meeting on April 25.

The oil-to-telecoms conglomerate will also declare its results for the January to March quarter on the same day.

(Reporting by Nishit Navin; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

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April 17 (Reuters) - Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS:

• DISSOLUTION OF RELIANCE GLOBAL PROJECT SERVICES PTE. LTD.

Source text: ID:nBSEmtSKX

Further company coverage: RELI.NS

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April 15 (Reuters) - India has launched an auction of three coal bed methane blocks and 55 small discovered fields for exploration and production, said Pallavi Jain Govil, head of upstream regulator Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, on Tuesday at an event in Delhi.
Two of the coal bed methane blocks are in the state of West Bengal and one in the western state of Gujarat.
India also signed contacts for oil and gas blocks, offered under a licensing round earlier this year, Govil said, as the world's third largest oil consumer seeks to boost its local output.

The country imports over 80% of its over 5 million barrels per day of oil needs.
India's top explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp ONGC.NS signed contracts for exploration of 11 blocks, while Oil India OILI.NS signed for six blocks.
ONGC also signed an exploration contract for one block in tie up with BP BP.L and Reliance Industries RELI.NS, and teamed up with Oil India for three blocks.
Vedanta VDAN.NS signed contracts for seven blocks and Hindustan Oil Exploration Company HOEX.NS for one block.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

(([email protected]; +91 7982114624;))

April 11 (Reuters) - Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS:

• NAUYAAN TRADINGS COMPLETED ACQUISITION OF FURTHER 10% EQUITY STAKE IN NAUYAAN SHIPYARD

Source text: ID:nBSEbwtmyl

Further company coverage: RELI.NS

(([email protected];;))

** HSBC identifies five Indian stocks — Reliance Industries RELI.NS, ICICI Bank ICBK.NS, TVS Motor TVSM.NS, Shriram Finance SHMF.NS, and Adani Ports APSE.NS — as its top picks offering profit visibility

** Says, impact of U.S. tariffs on Indian markets likely limited on lower or limited domestic macro risks, lower export dependence to U.S. compared to other Asian peers

** However, does not expect a strong earnings rebound in FY26 as it sees capex yet to pick up, urban consumption remaining soft

** Expects Reliance to benefit from retail turnaround, digital growth, new energy momentum

** ICICI Bank offers strong growth with stable asset quality; TVS could gain from rural demand recovery

** Shriram Finance stands out for its superior asset quality; Adani Ports is a proxy for India's trade and infra growth, says HSBC

** On the day, TVSM rises 1.4%, RELI and ICBK edge up

** SHMF falls 2.1%, APSE slips 0.3%

** Benchmark Nifty 50 index .NSEI drops 0.6%

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; +91 9769003463;))

** Shares of oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries RELI.NS lose as much as 7.5% to 1,114.85 rupees, their lowest levels since October 6, 2023

** RELI with a weightage of 8.1% drags benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI 4% lower

** "Weaker global fuel demand due to tariff uncertainty could hurt refining margins of RELI," says Morgan Stanley

** The drop in the session drags RELI to "oversold" territory, with the relative strength index (RSI) slipping to 28.6

** The session's losses also push RELI to losses for 2025 so far; RELI stock down about 1% in 2025, compared with NSEI's 7.6% drop

** This is the sharpest single-day drop for RELI since June 4, 2024, when markets fell after the ruling National Democratic Alliance returned to power with a smaller majority

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; +91 9769003463;))

April 3 (Reuters) - Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS:

• RELIANCE INDUSTRIES - GETS REDEMPTION FINE AND PENALTY OF 97.5 MLN RUPPEES

• RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LTD - TO APPEAL AGAINST CUSTOMS ORDER

• RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LTD - NO IMPACT ON OPERATIONS DUE TO CUSTOMS ORDER

Source text: ID:nNSE3G7zss

Further company coverage: RELI.NS

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