RELIANCE

April 9 (Reuters) - Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS:

• RELIANCE CAPS FUEL SALES AT $11 PER PUMP AMID GROWING SHORTAGES - BLOOMBERG NEWS

Source text: https://tinyurl.com/54ahrsad

Further company coverage: RELI.NS

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Adds Iranian navy quote in paragraph 4, attacks on ships, graphic

By Jeslyn Lerh and Nerijus Adomaitis

SINGAPORE/OSLO, April 8 (Reuters) - Shippers on Wednesday said they needed more clarity on the terms of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire before resuming transit through the Strait of Hormuz, as Iran said the waterway remained closed to vessels sailing without a permit.

The six‑week conflict had brought traffic through the strait - a chokepoint for about 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments - close to a standstill, pushing global energy prices sharply higher.

Iran said it would offer safe passage in coordination with its armed forces, though its coastguards warned on Wednesday that any ship attempting to sail without permission would be "targeted and destroyed".

"Transit in the Strait of Hormuz is closed yet, and you must receive permission from Iranian Sepah navy," the radio message received by two ship owners and shared with Reuters said.

MAJOR SHIPPING COMPANIES REMAIN CAUTIOUS

The first vessel had transited the strait with Iran's permission following the ceasefire, its state TV said on Wednesday.

The ship's identity was not immediately clear, but MarineTraffic data showed two Greek-owned and two Chinese-owned bulk carriers passing through since early Wednesday.

Iran has previously agreed safe‑passage arrangements with several countries, including India and Iraq.

Major shipping companies remained cautious.

Denmark's Maersk MAERSKb.CO said the ceasefire may create transit opportunities for vessels but did not yet provide full maritime certainty.

German container carrier Hapag‑Lloyd said it needed to see that the ceasefire holds before starting to take orders for selected markets.

INTEREST PICKS UP AMONG ASIAN REFINERS

Restoring flows to normal could take at least six to eight weeks, Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen told a call with customers.

Lars Barstad, CEO of oil tanker group Frontline FRO.OL, said the firm was still assessing what the ceasefire meant for shipping. "I want to see the fine print," he told Reuters.

Bimco Chief Safety and Security Officer Jakob Larsen warned that vessels leaving the Gulf without prior coordination with U.S. and Iranian authorities would face heightened risk.

Since the start of the war on February 28, almost 30 maritime incidents involving commercial vessels and offshore infrastructure have been reported across the region, the U.S. Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Center said in a note dated April 7.

Some 187 laden tankers carrying 172 million barrels of crude oil and refined products were inside the Gulf as of Tuesday, according to ship tracker Kpler.

Shipping sources said interest in loading Gulf cargoes had picked up among Asian refiners, as well as trader Glencore and French oil major TotalEnergies TTEF.PA, both of which declined to comment.

Asian economies are the main buyers of oil shipped through the strait and have been hit especially hard by the disruption.

"We expect tankers and oil flowing to Iranian‑friendly countries to be the first ones to transit," said Anoop Singh, global head of shipping research at Oil Brokerage, adding more than 50 VLCCs and about 15 Suezmaxes could soon exit the Gulf.

Britain said on Wednesday it would work with the shipping, insurance and energy sectors to try to restore confidence in use of the Strait of Hormuz.

(Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh, Siyi Liu in Singapore, Bernadette Christina in Jakarta, Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen, Nidhi Verma in New Delhi, Ahmad Ghaddar in London, Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo, Renee Maltezou and Yannis Souliotis in Athens; reporting; Writing by Florence Tan; Editing by Alexander Smith, David Holmes and Keith Weir)

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Adds details from filing, related criminal case, background, paragraphs 4-11

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK, April 7 (Reuters) - Gautam Adani, India's second richest person, will ask a U.S. judge to dismiss the Securities and Exchange Commission's civil fraud case stemming from an alleged bribery scheme, his lawyers said on Tuesday.

Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani were charged by the SEC in November 2024 with orchestrating a scheme to pay or promise to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Indian government officials to benefit Adani Green Energy ADNA.NS, where both men are executives and directors.

The securities fraud case is tied to Adani Green's alleged failure to disclose the scheme in documents for a $750 million bond offering in 2021.

In a filing in the Brooklyn, New York federal court, the Adanis' lawyers said their clients disputed there was any credible evidence supporting the alleged bribery scheme.

The lawyers said the Adanis' lack of involvement in the offering, and the absence of any intent to defraud or negligence, supported a dismissal.

They also called the SEC claims "impermissibly extraterritorial," reflecting how the Adanis and all alleged misconduct were in India, and the bonds were never traded on a U.S. exchange.

The SEC had no immediate comment. Lawyers for the Adanis said they will formally seek a dismissal by April 30.

U.S. prosecutors filed a related criminal case in November 2024 against the Adanis and several other defendants. There have been no public developments in that case since December 2024. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn declined to comment.

Gautam Adani, 63, founded and chairs the conglomerate Adani Group, and is chairman of Adani Green.

He is worth about $60.6 billion, ranking 30th worldwide according to Forbes magazine.

Mukesh Ambani, chairman of the conglomerate Reliance Industries RELI.NS, is India's richest person, worth about $91.4 billion and ranking 20th worldwide, Forbes said.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York
Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Bill Berkrot)

(([email protected] ; +1 646 223 6317; Reuters Messaging: [email protected] /))

Updates

** Shares of India's Reliance Industries RELI.NS fall 4.5% to near one-year low of 1,290 rupees

** Stock set for a fourth session of losses in five after India imposes windfall tax on diesel exports

** Analysts expect refining margins of RELI, India's largest fuel exporter, to be impacted

** Recently imposed export taxes and oil marketing companies reportedly sourcing discounted crude to ensure refiners also absorb a meaningful share of sector-wide losses as consumers remain protected, says Citi Research

** Says this is the first instance where the burden of under-recoveries has been concentrated on downstream refiners and marketers, alongside partial fiscal absorption

** Other refiners MRPL MRPL.NS and Chennai Petroleum CHPC.NS also down 1.6% and 3.9%, respectively

** Stock rated "buy" on average by 32 brokerages, median PT is 1,700 rupees, per data compiled by LSEG

** YTD, RELI stock down 17.2%

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M)

(([email protected];))

By Munsif Vengattil

BENGALURU, April 4 (Reuters) - Welcome to the new-look movie set, where the quiet hum of a coding floor has replaced the cacophony of cameras, clapperboards and shouted directions.

The Collective Artists Network, a top talent agency for Bollywood A-listers, has long brokered the careers of real-life superstars. Now, it’s engineering digital ones. In its Bengaluru premises, filmmakers use artificial intelligence tools to create content based on Hindu mythology – a popular genre in India. One movie, based on the religious text “Ramayana,” has a scene showing the god Hanuman flying while carrying a mountain. A show based on a separate ancient epic, “Mahabharat,” features a sequence depicting the princess Gandhari, who blindfolded herself upon marrying a blind king.

India produces the most movies of any country, and stars such as Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan command cult-like followings. But shifting audience habits, including the rise of streaming, are squeezing production budgets, many industry players say. The number of moviegoers fell to 832 million in 2025 from 1.03 billion in 2019, according to consulting firm Ormax Media. While box-office sales hit a record $1.4 billion last year, revenue has been choppy since the pandemic and reliant on a handful of hits and pricier tickets.

(To view the story on Reuters.com, go to https://www.reuters.com/technology/ai-is-rewiring-worlds-most-prolific-film-industry-2026-04-04/)

Studios in India are responding by deploying AI at a scale unseen elsewhere: creating full-fledged AI-generated films; using AI dubbing to release movies in numerous languages; and recutting endings of older titles to eke out additional sales. In the process, they are reshaping the economics of filmmaking, compressing production timelines, and pitting AI-driven efficiency against a recurring problem: Audiences have often reviewed AI content harshly, even when it sells.

“AI is slashing production costs to one-fifth of what they used to be for traditional filmmaking in genres such as mythology and fantasy,” said Rahul Regulapati, who heads Collective’s AI studio, known as Galleri5. And production time? “Down to a quarter,” he said.

The approach differs from Hollywood, where union contracts and fears of job displacement have constrained studios’ use of the technology. In India, at least one major production house is reviewing its entire library for AI re-releases, and Google GOOGL.O, Microsoft MSFT.O and Nvidia NVDA.O have made early bets by partnering with local filmmakers.

Previous reporting has explored how Indian filmmakers are harnessing AI, and India’s divergence with Hollywood. But Reuters is detailing for the first time the extent to which India’s film industry is reorganizing itself around AI and the economics driving the shift. Reuters visited two AI studios and tested moviemaking tools, attended film festivals and interviewed 25 people for this story, including directors, studio heads, industry executives and startup figures.

American and British studios have experimented with AI filmmaking – producing the first full-length AI animated features in 2024 and an AI-powered immersive version of “The Wizard of Oz” last year.

But the ambitions of India’s filmmakers are on a different level, said Dominic Lees, a film and AI researcher at Britain’s University of Reading. “If they can deliver, then the shift in AI filmmaking will be to India,” he said.

The pivot to AI reflects India’s embrace of the technology broadly. Last year, Reuters detailed India’s wager that leaning in to AI will create enough opportunities to offset shorter-term disruption. AI could boost Indian media and entertainment firms’ revenue by 10% and reduce costs by 15% over the medium term, according to analysis by consulting firm EY.

Vikram Malhotra, founder of Abundantia Entertainment, told Reuters the Bollywood production house, which recently announced investment in an $11 million AI studio, is building its AI capability from scratch and expects content generated or assisted by AI to account for one-third of its revenue within three years.

NEW ENDINGS FOR OLD DRAMAS

Last year, India’s Eros Media World re-released a 2013 hit, “Raanjhanaa,” with an AI-altered twist. It replaced a tragic ending, in which the protagonist died, with a happier finale where he opens his eyes to the surprise of his lover, who smiles through tears.

The rewrite drew backlash. Dhanush, the lead actor, who goes by one name professionally, said on X that the AI remake had “stripped the film of its very soul” and set a “deeply concerning precedent for both art and artists.”

Still, the re-release of “Raanjhanaa” drew audiences. India’s largest cinema chain, PVR Inox PVRL.NS, told Reuters that 35% of available tickets to the Tamil-language version of the movie were sold during its release month, August. That was 12 percentage points higher than the average in 2025.

Now, Eros is going further: Pradeep Dwivedi, its group CEO, told Reuters the studio is reviewing its 3,000-title catalog “to identify candidates for AI-assisted adaptation.” The group’s Indian unit, Eros International, last year warned of “competition from digital platforms” as its consolidated annual revenue from operations fell 44%.

“It’s both a revenue opportunity and a creative renewal strategy,” Dwivedi said of the plans for AI rewrites.

In Hollywood, such alterations would face barriers. Under an agreement with U.S. actors’ union SAG-AFTRA, studios cannot digitally alter an actor’s performance or create a digital replica without the performer’s informed consent. The Directors Guild of America contract bars studios from using AI for creative decisions without consulting the director and prevents AI from doing the work of its members.

Indian studios, by contrast, are pushing into aggressive experiments using AI, including in Hindu mythological tales – big business in a country with millions of devout followers. Collective is planning eight AI-generated titles focused on deities such as Hanuman, Krishna, Durga and Kali.

JioStar, a media joint venture between billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance RELI.NS and Walt Disney DIS.N, has been airing an AI-generated adaptation of the ancient Hindu epic “Mahabharat” – the first episodic series to emerge from Collective's cinematic AI lab.

The AI rendition of the tale about a dynastic war between princes has recorded at least 26.5 million views since its October release on JioStar’s streaming platform, the company told Reuters. An earlier TV adaptation drew 200 million viewers between 1988 and 1990.

The show has faced a rocky reception with audiences, however. “Mahabharat” holds a rating of 1.4 out of 10 on IMDb, with some reviewers criticizing lip-sync issues and others saying some sequences felt low-quality or lacked authenticity due to unnatural styling.

Alok Jain, a senior executive at JioStar, told Reuters the response “has been a mix of appreciation and healthy debate, which is natural for any ambitious creative leap.” He said JioStar is exploring making original stories in AI format.

Some industry figures lament the rise of AI in filmmaking. Jonathan Taplin, an American writer and producer who has worked with Hollywood studios, said the use of AI to create entire feature films is “an affront to the whole history of cinema.”

“It will fill your cinemas and screens with formula slop,” he said.

DUBBING WITH AI

Dubbing may offer a smoother path to acceptance of AI in film.

India’s 22 official languages and hundreds of dialects split the country into micro-markets, making dubbing essential for any movie to become a national blockbuster. Audiences have long griped about mismatched lip movement – a problem AI is beginning to address.

During a Reuters visit to NeuralGarage, an AI startup in Bengaluru that provides dubbing for top studios like Yash Raj Films, co-founder Subhabrata Debnath demonstrated a clip of an AI-generated character speaking in English. He then superimposed a German audio track, and within minutes the character was speaking fluent German, lips and jaw in sync.

Debnath said the technology preserves “the performance, identity and the speaking style of the person” while altering the face enough to make the dubbing look natural.

NeuralGarage’s AI technology was used last year to dub Yash Raj’s Hindi movie “War 2” into the Telugu language of south India. The production house didn’t respond to Reuters questions.

TECH MAJORS MEET THE RED CARPET

Global tech majors also want a piece of the action.

Google partnered with Bollywood director Shakun Batra in August to produce a five-part cinematic series using its Veo 3 video-generation and Flow AI tools to experiment with AI-powered filmmaking. Mira Lane, Google’s vice president of technology and society, told Reuters that AI could also allow independent artists to create complex sequences that “might otherwise be out of reach due to budget or logistical constraints.”

Collective has been working with Microsoft, which told Reuters it is providing AI computing power to help “shape the next wave of global storytelling” through such collaborations.

To bypass the limitations of standard text prompts, Collective uses a hybrid of physical recording and digital animation. Actors wear sensor-equipped motion-capture suits to record body movements as 3D data, while smartphones capture facial expressions. This data is fed into the AI pipeline, allowing for nuanced control over the AI-generated characters.

The ripples are reaching beyond the studio. Globally, festivals dedicated to screening AI-generated shorts have proliferated in cities including Los Angeles, Cannes, and Barcelona. India’s first took place in November at Mumbai’s Royal Opera House, where young storytellers walked the red carpet alongside a dancing robot.

And in February, Nvidia shared the stage with aspiring AI filmmakers at the second edition of India’s AI film fest in New Delhi. Pradeep Gupta, a global vice president of Nvidia, told the audience the company is working to slash computing costs so that anyone can “create something substantial without putting a lot of money” into production.

Anurag Kashyap, a Bollywood director, told Reuters he is concerned about the growth of AI in filmmaking in India and the lack of guardrails around its use. But he grudgingly conceded the economic case for studios to deploy the technology.

“In India, cinema isn’t about art. It’s purely business, so studios are going to use it to make mythologicals,” Kashyap said of AI. “Our audience is a sucker for it.”

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru and Mumbai. Additional reporting by Hritam Mukherjee and Sunil Kataria. Editing by Aditya Kalra and David Crawshaw.)

(([email protected];))

Repeats with no changes to text

By Trixie Yap

SINGAPORE, March 31 (Reuters) - India's diesel exports to Southeast Asia surged to the highest in more than seven years in March, shipping data showed, as traders pivoted supply to cover short positions and refiners cashed in on higher profits in Asia caused by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

The surge in exports could boost spot sale margins for Indian refiners who have purchased large volumes of prompt Russian crude to replace Middle East supply disrupted by the war.

About 1 million metric tons (7.45 million barrels) of diesel have been shipped on this trade route, according to data from analytics firm Kpler and three trade sources, with around half of the volumes bound for Singapore.

Around 90% of these volumes were shipped by Reliance Industries RELI.NS, Kpler data showed, operator of the world's largest refining complex.

Reliance did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

SUPPLY PIVOTS AFTER NARROW EAST-WEST PRICE SPREAD

Traders tapped India's diesel supply for Southeast Asia and Australia after the Middle East conflict disrupted crude supplies to Asia, leading refineries to cut output and countries including China to ban exports of refined products.

"Asian buyers that usually rely on Chinese and northeast Asia must seek alternative supply, with India's Reliance being one of the main candidates in the region," analysts from consultancy FGE NexantECA said.

India is known as a swing supplier in global oil markets as it can sell its refined products either to Europe or Asia, whichever is more profitable.

These shipments will help to ease supply tightness going into April, traders said. Some analysts expect the trend to last in the near term despite the Indian government reinstating export taxes for diesel.

Sparta Commodities' analyst James Noel-Beswick said its arbitrage calculations suggested that the trade flow can continue into August at least.

"India appears firmly committed to keeping its refineries at capacity, and Washington's rather permissive stance on both Russian and Iranian purchases has given it the means to do so," he added.

The U.S. has issued temporary waivers for the sale of Russian and Iranian oil cargoes at sea to ease global prices.

Front month April east-west price spreads, the difference between Singapore paper swaps on a free on board basis and ICE gasoil futures, narrowed to an average discount of $20 a ton in the week of March 27, LSEG pricing data showed, with spreads trading at premiums for some sessions. LGOAEFSMc1

Traders typically deem a discount of less than $40 a ton to be more favourable for them to pivot cargoes to east of Suez markets instead of west.

(Reporting by Trixie Yap; Editing by Florence Tan and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

(([email protected];))

By Trixie Yap

SINGAPORE, March 31 (Reuters) - India's diesel exports to Southeast Asia surged to the highest in more than seven years in March, shipping data showed, as traders pivoted supply to cover short positions and refiners cashed in on higher profits in Asia caused by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

The surge in exports could boost spot sale margins for Indian refiners who have purchased large volumes of prompt Russian crude to replace Middle East supply disrupted by the war.

About 1 million metric tons (7.45 million barrels) of diesel have been shipped on this trade route, according to data from analytics firm Kpler and three trade sources, with around half of the volumes bound for Singapore.

Around 90% of these volumes were shipped by Reliance Industries RELI.NS, Kpler data showed, operator of the world's largest refining complex.

Reliance did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

SUPPLY PIVOTS AFTER NARROW EAST-WEST PRICE SPREAD

Traders tapped India's diesel supply for Southeast Asia and Australia after the Middle East conflict disrupted crude supplies to Asia, leading refineries to cut output and countries including China to ban exports of refined products.

"Asian buyers that usually rely on Chinese and northeast Asia must seek alternative supply, with India's Reliance being one of the main candidates in the region," analysts from consultancy FGE NexantECA said.

India is known as a swing supplier in global oil markets as it can sell its refined products either to Europe or Asia, whichever is more profitable.

These shipments will help to ease supply tightness going into April, traders said. Some analysts expect the trend to last in the near term despite the Indian government reinstating export taxes for diesel.

Sparta Commodities' analyst James Noel-Beswick said its arbitrage calculations suggested that the trade flow can continue into August at least.

"India appears firmly committed to keeping its refineries at capacity, and Washington's rather permissive stance on both Russian and Iranian purchases has given it the means to do so," he added.

The U.S. has issued temporary waivers for the sale of Russian and Iranian oil cargoes at sea to ease global prices.

Front month April east-west price spreads, the difference between Singapore paper swaps on a free on board basis and ICE gasoil futures, narrowed to an average discount of $20 a ton in the week of March 27, LSEG pricing data showed, with spreads trading at premiums for some sessions. LGOAEFSMc1

Traders typically deem a discount of less than $40 a ton to be more favourable for them to pivot cargoes to east of Suez markets instead of west.

(Reporting by Trixie Yap; Editing by Florence Tan and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

(([email protected];))

March 26 (Reuters) - Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS:

• REJECTS RECENT MEDIA REPORTS THAT CO HAS PURCHASED CRUDE OIL OF IRANIAN ORIGIN

Further company coverage: RELI.NS

(([email protected];))

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

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, March 25 (Reuters Breakingviews) - India's cricket mania may be hitting its limits. The $1.8 billion purchase of Royal Challengers Bengaluru by the Aditya Birla Group, David Blitzer's Bolt Ventures and Blackstone BX.N confirms Indian Premier League franchise valuations are rising faster than expectations for media rights. That's great for seller Diageo DGE.L. For the new owners, that leaves a lot riding on the league’s global ambitions.

The global distiller and beer giant inherited the team when it acquired control of United Spirits over a decade ago from beer baron Vijay Mallya, the poster child of India’s bad debt crisis. The deal values the Challengers at just under one-fifth of the listed Indian parent's market value. That's nearly three times what CVC Capital Partners CVC.AS paid to acquire a new team, the Gujarat Titans, in 2021, and more than double the mooted 75 billion rupee ($800 million) valuation the buyout fund secured last year when it sold a majority stake in the Titans to Torrent, an Indian conglomerate.

With team salary caps and absence of relegation risk, each of the league's 10 franchises theoretically have equal and fairly solid earnings power. That has attracted investors, like Blitzer who also owns stakes in teams in major U.S. sports leagues including the National Football League.

Merchandise sales are limited in India, however, so most IPL franchises generate roughly 70% of their revenue from media rights. That tightly ties the franchises' worth to the outcome of these auctions. Yet competition for streaming rights has shrunk after Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries RELI.NS, also the owner of the Mumbai Indians, bought a chunk of Walt Disney's DIS.N Indian business.

The value of media rights doubled from $3 billion to $6 billion between the 2018-2022 and 2023-2027 auctions. Media Partners Asia, a consultancy, estimates the value for the next five-year period will plateau in nominal terms at about $5.4 billion and represent a 13% decline on a per-match basis as the number of games played in the IPL's short season expands from 410 to 470 matches.

Blackstone and its partners will hope the Indian Premier League can build a bigger global audience in richer markets like the U.S. and United Arab Emirates. If the IPL's next media rights auction disappoints, however, cricket mania may well have hit a new unwelcome boundary.

Follow Shritama Bose on LinkedIn and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

A consortium comprising Aditya Birla Group, Times Internet, Bolt Ventures, and Blackstone will acquire Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru for 166.6 billion rupees ($1.77 billion), United Spirits said on March 24. United Spirits is a unit of global drinks giant Diageo. It launched a strategic review of its 100% holding of the franchise in November, labelling the team "non-core" to its primary alcohol business.

(Editing by Una Galani; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/[email protected]))

By Nidhi Verma and Siyi Liu

NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE, March 24 (Reuters) - India's Reliance Industries RELI.NS, operator of the world's biggest refining complex, has purchased 5 million barrels of Iranian crude, days after the U.S. temporarily removed sanctions on the oil, three sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

The Indian refiner bought the oil from the National Iranian Oil Co., two of the sources said.

One of them said the crude was priced at a premium of about $7 a barrel to ICE Brent futures. It was not immediately clear when the oil would be delivered.

Iranian oil, which in recent years has mainly been bought by Chinese independent refiners, is often rebranded as originating from another country.

Reliance did not respond to emails seeking comment. NIOC could not be reached for comment.

The Trump administration on Friday issued a 30-day sanctions waiver for the purchase of Iranian oil already at sea. The waiver applies to oil loaded on any vessel, including tankers under sanctions, on or before March 20 and discharged by April 19.

The deal marks India's first purchase of Iranian oil since the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer halted imports from Iran in May 2019, months after Washington reimposed sanctions on Tehran.

The purchase comes after Indian refiners snapped up more than 40 million barrels of Russian crude after the U.S. announced a temporary sanctions waiver this month to ease supply shortages.

Other Asian refiners including Indian state firms are making checks to see if they can purchase the oil, several sources have said. However, Asia's top refiner Sinopec 600028.SS does not intend to buy Iranian oil, a senior executive at the Chinese state giant said on Monday.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma in New Delhi and Siyi Liu in Singapore; Editing by Kate Mayberry)

(([email protected];))

MUMBAI, March 23 (Reuters) - Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio Platforms is gearing up to file papers seeking regulatory approvals for a Mumbai listing, in what is likely to be the biggest-ever stock offering in the country.

Here are facts and numbers on Jio Platforms, which houses the world's second-largest telecom company by users after China Mobile 600941.SS.

TELECOM BUSINESS

Reliance Jio Platforms is a unit of Ambani's oil-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries RELI.NS. It is most known for the telecom business - Reliance Jio Infocomm, which is the country's biggest player with more than 500 million subscribers.

Launched in 2016, the telecom business, popularly just called Jio, hit rivals such as Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS and Vodafone-Idea VODA.NS hard by offering free voice and data plans initially.

The move, in line with Ambani's typical strategy of offering cut-throat prices to lure consumers, drove up its customer base and allowed many Indians to access platforms such as YouTube and Facebook for the first time.

Jio says it currently has a roughly 60% share of India's data traffic.

In recent years, Reliance Jio Platforms has diversified beyond telecom into AI, cloud and enterprise network services, as well as app development. In 2023, Nvidia NVDA.O announced AI partnership with Reliance to develop cloud infrastructure and language models.

THE LEADERSHIP

Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest man, is the chairman of Jio Platforms. His three children - Akash, Anant and Isha - serve on its board. Akash Ambani, his elder son, is the chairman of the company's flagship telecom unit, Reliance Jio Infocomm.

Reliance Industries holds 66.43% stake in Jio Platforms.

Kiran Thomas is the CEO of Jio Platforms.

KEY FINANCIALS, VALUATION

Reliance Jio Platforms' operating revenue in the last financial year ending March 2025 stood at $13.65 billion. But 90% of that came just from the telecom business, which the company says has grown annually by 13% since 2020-21.

Reliance Jio Platforms posted a profit after tax of $2.8 billion in the year.

In November, investment bank Jefferies estimated that Reliance Jio's valuation stood at $180 billion. Sources told Reuters in January the IPO could be worth as much as $4 billion, though final numbers will only be decided later.

MARQUEE INVESTORS

In 2020, Jio Platforms raised more than $20.5 billion from 13 global investors in exchange for a roughly 33% equity stake, at a valuation range of $57 billion to $65 billion.

Global names such as Meta Platforms META.O, Alphabet GOOGL.O and KKR invested in the firm, as Ambani sought to turn Jio Platforms into the centerpiece of his technology ambitions.

Other investors include General Atlantic, Silver Lake and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Meta owns a 9.9% stake in the company, followed by Google's 7.7% stake.

THE IPO JOURNEY

The company's IPO has been long delayed. In 2019, Ambani said Jio would "move towards" a listing within five years, but later the plans were delayed in 2025.

The company has hired 17 banks to manage its offering, which will see the company raise no new funds from the public and only allow exits for some shareholders.

(Reporting by Vibhuti Sharma and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

(([email protected];))

** Oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries RELI.NS will be a "beneficiary" of higher gross refining margins, if windfall tax on diesel or petrol is not reimposed, says Jefferies

** RELI' shares are up 3.25%, leading benchmarks Nifty 50 .NSEI and Sensex .BSESN about 1.3% higher each

** Damage to gas infrastructure in Iran and Qatar have pushed out the timeline for normalization of supply, lifting medium term LNG prices, says Jefferies

** In contrast to RELI, Jefferies expects oil marketing companies such as HPCL HPCL.NS, IOC IOC.NS and BPCL BPCL.NS to be adversely impacted by crude rally

** Jefferies projects earnings per share decline for ONGC ONGC.NS due to rising crude, due to its HPCL stake

** Brokerage says higher crude will be negative for Petronet LNG PLNG.NS, GAIL GAIL.NS and city gas distribution companies such as Indraprastha Gas IGAS.NS, Mahanagar Gas MGAS.NS and Gujarat Gas GGAS.NS

** Financial services and equities research firm Ambit Capital says RELI offers "an opportunity in adversity," as its oil-to-chemical segment is positioned for a near-term margin expansion driven by higher product cracks

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)

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

Recasts with comments from oil ministry

By Nidhi Verma

March 19 (Reuters) - India, the world's fourth-largest refiner, will review its fuel exports if needed to ensure availability in the local markets, a government official said on Thursday, amid global disruption and soaring oil prices stemming from the Iran war.

"Domestic consumption is priority, and the government will review (the export plan)," Sujata Sharma, a joint secretary in the federal petroleum ministry told a news conference.

India has ordered oil and gas companies to share full details of exports, imports and inventories with a government agency, as the South Asian nation seeks to shield consumers from shortages.

India has designated the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell to compile the information and all companies must share information regardless of any confidentiality obligations.

India has been hit hard by the jump in crude prices and disruption in oil and gas supplies, but unlike China it has not moved to ban exports of refined fuels.

The data will help India in taking faster and "more targeted interventions such as imposing export restrictions or calibrating export flows to meet its own energy security", said Prashant Vashisth, vice president at Moody's affiliate ICRA.

He said India can use its excess refining capacity to prioritise fuel supply to friendly or strategically aligned countries after meeting its local demand.

"Nowadays buyers are willing to pay a higher price. The question is of availability, which is beginning to outweigh prices," Vashisth said.

Any move to curtail fuel exports by India will hit Reliance Industries RELI.NS, the operator of the world's biggest refining complex, as other refiners have largely stopped exporting fuels.

All companies involved in the oil and gas supply chain including oil producers, importers, refiners, fuel and gas retailers, liquefied natural gas importers, pipeline operators, and petrochemical plants were ordered to provide PPAC with data.

India, the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer, meets over 90% of its oil needs through purchases from overseas.

So far the federal government has said there are adequate crude supplies and refined fuel stocks to meet local demand.

However, the world's second-largest LPG importer is facing its worst cooking gas crisis in decades with shipments from the Strait of Hormuz almost halted due to the war.

India was sourcing more than 40% of its crude imports and 90% of its liquefied petroleum gas imports from the Middle East.

Indian refiners have bought millions of barrels of Russian oil floating on the high seas after Washington granted a sanctions waiver.

The country has invoked emergency powers ordering refiners to maximise production of LPG and cut sales to industry to avoid a shortage for its 333 million homes with LPG connections.

India last week asked consumers to avoid panic buying of LPG cylinders and shift to piped natural gas where possible.

(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Deepa Babington, Kevin Buckland, Alexandra Hudson)

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

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, March 17 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Mukesh Ambani is getting his hands greasy. His $200 billion Reliance Industries RELI.NS will invest in a new refinery in Texas, America's first in 50 years, Donald Trump said last week. The Indian conglomerate has stumbled in its past energy investments stateside but its expertise in processing heavy, low-cost crude is world class and its purchases of Russian oil provide an incentive to back the U.S. president's ramp up of energy exports.

America First Refining said it had "received a 9-figure investment from a global supermajor at a 10-figure valuation" for the refinery and signed a binding 20-year offtake term sheet for the facility, which would process 1.2 billion barrels of light shale oil and 50 billion gallons of refined products under the terms of the agreement. The pact would shrink the U.S. trade imbalance by $300 billion, it added.

The terms of Reliance's exact role is unclear but it would be a valuable partner. Its Jamnagar facility in Gujarat is the world's largest single site refinery. It's a highly complex operation that can convert practically any variety of crude into higher-value products from diesel to synthetic textiles.

The Indian company stopped reporting its gross refining margins roughly five years ago but with a score of 21 on the Nelson complexity index, a system that ranks refineries based on their ability to process oil, Jamnagar is several notches ahead of Saudi Aramco-backed 2222.SE Motiva's Port Arthur refinery in the U.S, the country's largest facility by capacity.

Its technical capabilities will help with Venezuelan barrels as they come onshore. America hasn't had any greenfield refinery projects for so long because existing energy companies like Marathon Petroleum MPC.N and Exxon Mobil XOM.N have met existing demand with upgrades and locally available crude is mostly light sweet.

Yet it's hard to imagine that Reliance would be planting a flag in the U.S. unless it was under pressure from Washington which last year accused India of profiteering from Russian oil during the ongoing Ukraine war. India provides the company a huge domestic market and it suffered heavy impairments on earlier investments in U.S. shale which it exited over the past decade.

Refining is Reliance's core cash generating business and Ambani will go to great lengths to protect it. At least the Indian tycoon's latest bet plays to the group's strengths in downstream processing and his conglomerate has a balance sheet fit for a potentially costly overseas adventure.

Follow Shritama Bose on LinkedIn and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

U.S. President Donald Trump on March 10 announced the construction of a refinery in his country backed by India's ​Reliance Industries.

"Thank you to our partners in India, and their largest privately held Energy Company, Reliance, for this tremendous Investment," Trump said on social media platform Truth Social without providing further details.

America First Refining on the same day said it had received a nine-figure investment from a global supermajor at a 10-figure valuation. It also said it has signed a binding 20-year offtake term sheet with the same supermajor, under the terms of which the refinery would process 1.2 billion barrels of shale oil and produce 50 billion gallons of refined products. The agreement committed to improving the "U.S. trade imbalance" by $300 billion, America First Refining added.

(Editing by Una Galani; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/[email protected]))

March 16 (Reuters) - India's Reliance Industries RELI.NS said on Monday it had signed a binding long-term agreement with South Korea's Samsung C&T 028260.KS to supply green ammonia for 15 years, in a deal valued at more than $3 billion.

(Reporting by Surbhi Misra in Bengaluru)

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** India's Reliance Industries RELI.NS has been defensive amid heightened volatility due to escalating Middle East conflict, says Jefferies

** Middle East supply disruptions boost refining and petrochemical margins, brokerage adds, raising FY27 consolidated EBITDA estimate by 2%

** RELI is trading below its long-term average suggesting limited downside amidst earnings support - Jefferies

** Stock largely flat since start of Iran war on Feb 28 vs Nifty 50's .NSEI 6.9% drop

** Geopolitical chaos is acting as a catalyst for RELI with gasoil, gasoline and jet fuel cracks jumping sharply and lifting oil-to-chemicals business profitability, says Motilal Oswal

** Brokerage estimates ~8.5% upside to FY27 EBITDA if disruptions persist through the H1FY27, citing RELI's diversified feedstock mix and strong integration

** Avg rating of 34 analysts on RELI at "buy"; median PT is 1,702 rupees - data compiled by LSEG

** YTD, RELI down 11.2% vs Nifty's 10.3% decline

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru)

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MUMBAI, March 12 (Reuters) - India's Jio Credit plans accepted bids worth 10 billion rupees ($108.81 million) for its five-year bond sale, three bankers said on Thursday.

It will pay an annual coupon of 7.66% and had invited commitment bids for the issue earlier in the day, they said.

The company did not respond to a Reuters email seeking comment.

Here is the list of deals reported so far on March 12:

*Size includes base plus greenshoe for some issues

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia and Khushi Malhotra)

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MUMBAI, March 11 (Reuters) - India's Jio Credit plans to raise up to 10 billion rupees ($108.81 million) through the sale of bonds maturing in five years, three bankers said on Wednesday.

It has invited coupon and commitment bids for the issue on Thursday, they said.

The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters email seeking comment.

Here is the list of deals reported so far on March 11:

*Size includes base plus greenshoe for some issues

($1 = 91.9000 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia, Khushi Malhotra; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

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By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI, March 9 (Reuters) - India's Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS has bought at least 6 million barrels of Russian oil for March delivery after supplies from the Middle East were hit due to the Iran war, two industry sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Indian refiners have purchased millions of barrels of prompt Russian oil cargoes stuck at sea since Washington last week granted New Delhi a 30-day waiver from sanctions for cargoes loaded on vessels as of March 5.

Reliance bought the cargoes of Russian flagship grade Urals oil at prices ranging from a discount of $1 to a premium of $1 to dated Brent, one of the sources said.

Reliance did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

India, the world's third-biggest oil importer, imports about 40% of its oil from the Middle East through the Strait of Hormuz.

India was the top buyer of Russian seaborne crude after Moscow's 2022 Ukraine invasion, but in January its refiners started to reduce purchases under pressure from Washington.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma
Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

(([email protected]; X: @nidhi712;))

Adds U.S. Treasury license in paragraph 2, Treasury Secretary comments in paragraphs 3-5

By Nidhi Verma, Jarrett Renshaw and Steve Holland

NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON, March 5 (Reuters) - Indian refiners are buying millions of barrels of prompt Russian crude oil cargoes as the South Asian nation seeks to navigate an oil supply crunch triggered by the Middle East conflict, six sources familiar with the matter said.

After months of Washington pressuring New Delhi to avoid buying Russian barrels in an effort to reduce money flowing to Moscow's war effort in Ukraine, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a 30-day waiver on Thursday allowing India to buy Russian oil currently stuck at sea.

"To enable oil to keep flowing into the global market, the Treasury Department is issuing a temporary 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

"This deliberately short-term measure will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government as it only authorizes transactions involving oil already stranded at sea," he said in a statement.

He called it a stopgap measure, as Washington expects India to eventually buy more U.S. oil.

India is vulnerable to energy supply shocks, with crude stocks covering only about 25 days of demand. India gets about 40% of its oil imports from the Middle East through the Strait of Hormuz.

India was the top buyer of Russian seaborne crude after Moscow's 2022 Ukraine invasion, but in January, its refiners started to reduce purchases under pressure from Washington.

Cutting Russian oil purchases helped New Delhi avoid 25% tariffs and clinch an interim trade deal with the U.S.

It is unclear whether the United States has allowed India to increase Russian purchases to offset potential Middle Eastern supply losses.

A source directly involved with the matter said India had approached U.S. President Donald Trump's administration seeking approval to buy Russian crude imports due to the Iran conflict.

India's oil and foreign ministries did not respond to Reuters emails seeking comments. The White House and the U.S. Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

State refiners Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS, Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS, Hindustan Petroleum Corp HPCL.NS and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd MRPL.NS are talking to traders for prompt delivery of Russian cargoes, according to the Reuters sources.

One of the sources said Indian state refiners have bought about 20 million barrels of Russian oil from traders so far.

HPCL and MRPL last received Russian oil in November, according to data obtained from industry sources.

The traders are selling Russian Urals to India at a premium of $4-$5 per barrel to Brent on a delivered basis for arrival at Indian ports in March and early April, three of the sources said.

This is in contrast to a discount of about $13 per barrel for cargoes traded in February, traders said.

HPCL had bought two cargoes of Russian oil at a $13 discount before the war started on February 28.

"India refiners are back in the market ... nowadays more than prices, availability of molecules is the issue," said one of the traders involved in Russian oil sales to India.

This source said Reliance Industries RELI.NS also approached his company for the purchase of prompt Russian oil cargoes.

Refiners in India had already started tapping Russian oil aboard vessels floating off the country's coast to make up for the loss of Middle Eastern crude, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said earlier in the day.

Indian refiners did not immediately respond to Reuters emails sent out after business hours.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma in New Delhi and Jarrett Renshaw and Steve Holland in Washington and additional reporting by Ismail Shakil; Editing by David Gregorio and Sonali Paul)

(([email protected]; X: @nidhi712;))

Updates to closing levels

** Shares of India's Reliance Industries RELI.NS closes up 3% at 1,386 rupees, snapping three-day losing run

** RELI records best day in over a month

** RELI lost nearly 4.5% in the last three sessions amid broad-based selling over Middle East war

** Brokerage JM Financial ("Buy", PT at 1730 rupees) says the recent correction in RELI's stock price is overdone

** Says RELI could see near-term benefits due to a jump in diesel crack on account of supply disruption risk and likely rise in petchem margin

** Adds spike in crude/LNG prices doesn't hit the co's O2C (oil-to-chemicals) business

** RELI rated "buy" on average by 34 analysts; median PT at 1,702 rupees - data compiled by LSEG

** YTD, RELI down ~12%

(Reporting by Komal Salecha in Bengaluru)

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

• JIO PLATFORMS: NAMES DAN BAILEY AS PRESIDENT, JIO PLATFORMS TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS INITIATIVES

Further company coverage: RELI.NS

(([email protected];))

** Reliance Industries' RELI.NS new businesses, such as battery manufacturing, set to meaningfully contribute to FY earnings from current fiscal year, JP Morgan says

** Adds new businesses expected to become significant EBITDA driver over next 3-4 years

** Notes co's battery packs, including 5 kWh and 10 kWh systems, could see large-scale adoption once production ramps up

** Maintains "overweight", with PT of 1,675 rupees, saying manufacturing ramp-up, commissioning remain key catalysts for growth

** RELI down 0.9% at 1,394.20 rupees; Nifty 50 .NSEI trading 0.4% lower

** Stock rated "buy" on avg; median PT is 1,702 rupees, per data compiled by LSEG

** YTD, RELI down 11.3%

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru)

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