RELIANCE

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

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, May 12 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Jio Platforms owns a data network boasting India's quickest downloads, but its investors aren't feeling the benefits of speed. The telecom and digital unit of tycoon Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries RELI.NS will only sell new shares in an initial public offering, the Economic Times reported on Monday, citing unnamed people involved in the process. KKR KKR.N, Meta Platforms META.O and other existing investors may be holding on to their stakes in the hope of higher returns, but the delay will come at a cost.

The offering is a departure from an earlier plan: shareholders, among them Vista Equity Partners, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, were to sell 8% of their stakes in the IPO, per a Reuters report from March citing unnamed sources.

Now these global investors, who own 33% of Jio, will be waiting even longer to exit their position. The change may have been prompted by Reliance's keenness to prioritise leaving value on the table for mom-and-pop investors who subscribe to the IPO. It means the company is unlikely to aim for a more ambitious valuation of up to $180 billion estimated by analysts.

Assuming a price tag of $140 billion, roughly 13.4 trillion rupees, for Jio would imply an annualised return in local currency terms of roughly 18% over its 2020 equity valuation of 4.9 trillion rupees, and less in U.S. dollar terms. Anything below 20% would be considered sub-optimal for private equity backers like KKR, Silver Lake and General Atlantic.

It may be reasonable for them to stick around for longer to maximise gains from rising earnings in a business that's growing the top line at nearly 15%, twice the pace of the country's GDP. Its net income is likely to expand too, by 25% for the year to March 2027, according to estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.

Pricing dynamics may also turn more favourable once fighting in the Middle East ceases to weigh on Indian equities. Selling the minimum mandated 2.5% stake in a company valued at $140 billion would send Jio's bankers including Kotak and Morgan Stanley in search of buyers for $3.5 billion of stock, ranking amongst the biggest-ever Indian IPOs, at a time global sentiment towards the emerging market is exceptionally weak.

Yet waiting would mean passing up a chance to reduce an overhang on Jio's shares created by the expectation that its financial investors will eventually look for buyers. Ambani appears determined to avoid any further delays to listing the business. For Jio's current backers, the bar for a meaningful payoff is rising.

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CONTEXT NEWS

Reliance Industries is reworking the listing structure for its telecom and digital unit Jio Platforms, the Economic Times reported on May 11, citing three unnamed people involved in the process. The Indian group is now working towards an initial public offering only of new shares in Jio, as opposed to the previous plan of existing investors selling some of their stakes. A disagreement over pricing drove the change, the report added.

(Editing by Una Galani and Antony Currie; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

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

Updates with fund-raising plan in paragraphs 17-18

MUMBAI, May 11 (Reuters) - Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio Platforms is gearing up to seek 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 ultra-low 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 filing, which had been targeted for as early as March, has been pushed back as IPO activity slowed following the outbreak of the conflict in West Asia, with investors losing their appetite for new listings.

The IPO, previously expected to be a pure offer-for-sale where foreign investors would have sold some of their holdings, is now being planned as a fundraising, aiming to issue shares worth 2.5% of the company's size.

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.

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

(([email protected];))

May 7 (Reuters) - Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS:

• RELIANCE INDUSTRIES - WILL NOT BE ACQUIRING ANY STAKE IN OF KANDLA GHA TRANSMISSION LIMITED

Source text: ID:nBSE4PBC5r

Further company coverage: RELI.NS

(([email protected];))

** Reliance Industries RELI.NS shares down 2.3% at 1,430 rupees; benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI nearly flat

** RELI on course to snap six-session winning streak - longest in more than 7 months

** Reuters could not immediately ascertain reason behind the day's move

** RELI rallied about 10% till Tuesday since reporting its Q4 results post-market close on April 24

** Post earnings, analysts said conglomerate's refining business will benefit from stronger fuel margins, and remain positive on RELI's growth

** Avg rating of 29 analysts is "buy", median PT is 1,690 rupees - data compiled by LSEG

** YTD, RELI down about 9%, Nifty 50 fell about 8%

(Reporting by Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru)

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By Abhijith Ganapavaram

NEW DELHI, May 5 (Reuters) - India's biggest listed company, Reliance Industries RELI.NS, has handed over documents demanded by federal police investigating a drone import bribery case involving one of its senior vice presidents, according to a court order.

The order by a New Delhi court issued on Monday night did not specify what documents were demanded by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The CBI arrested a Reliance senior vice president, Bharat ⁠Mathur, and an official from the country's ‌aviation regulator last month, accusing them of agreeing to a $16,000 bribe to ​clear drone import applications by Asteria Aerospace, a Reliance unit.

The court also granted bail to Mathur, 64, on a personal bond of 100,000 rupees ($1,050). Both he and the government official, who is still in custody, have denied the allegations.

Reliance, which is led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, and Asteria did not respond to Reuters queries. The CBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The investigation and arrest of the senior Reliance executive come as Ambani's Jio Platforms, which owns Asteria, is gearing to file papers seeking regulatory ​approvals for a Mumbai listing, ​in what is likely ⁠to be India's biggest-ever stock offering.

Reliance has previously said Mathur ​was engaged as ​a consultant ⁠and the company neither knew of nor approved "any such unauthorised transaction."

Asteria Aerospace describes itself as a drone technology ​company that provides "actionable intelligence from aerial data". It provides services to agriculture, construction, telecom, and oil and gas sectors through the more than 400 drones it has deployed.

The CBI investigators have also questioned co-founders of Asteria Aerospace as part of the probe, the order said. The company was started in 2011 and Reliance bought it in a $2.45 million deal in 2019.

(Reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram; editing by Aditya Kalra and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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May 4 (Reuters) -

• FIFA HAS CONCLUDED AGREEMENTS WITH BROADCASTERS IN OVER 175 TERRITORIES AROUND THE WORLD AHEAD OF FIFA WORLD CUP - FIFA SPOKESPERSON

• DISCUSSIONS IN CHINA AND INDIA REGARDING SALE OF MEDIA RIGHTS FOR FIFA WORLD CUP 2026 ONGOING AND MUST REMAIN CONFIDENTIAL AT THIS STAGE - FIFA SPOKESPERSON

Further company coverage: DIS.N

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Adds data on destinations, details from paragraph 6 onwards

By Marianna Parraga and Mircely Guanipa

May 1 (Reuters) - Venezuela's oil exports rose 14% to 1.23 million barrels per day in April, the highest in more than seven years, fueled by more sales to the United States, India and Europe, shipping data and documents from state company PDVSA showed on Friday.

The South American country has been draining oil inventories and recovering crude output in recent months following the U.S. capture of President Nicolas Maduro in January, which led to a flagship supply pact between the governments of U.S. President Donald Trump and Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez.

The agreement, coupled with U.S. licenses easing sanctions on the country this year, has allowed PDVSA's joint-venture partners and trading houses including Vitol and Trafigura to receive cargoes from the state firm for sales to refiners in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

In April, a total of 66 vessels departed from Venezuelan waters, compared with 61 ships that carried 1.08 million bpd of crude and refined products in March, according to the data, based on tanker movements.

The April average is the highest monthly volume since late 2018, before U.S. sanctions were imposed on Venezuela's energy industry.

ALL OVER THE WORLD

The main destination of Venezuela's oil last month was the U.S. with some 445,000 bpd directly exported, above the 363,000 bpd of March. Exports to India rose to 374,000 bpd from 342,000 bpd the previous month, while shipments to Europe increased to some 165,000 bpd from 144,000 bpd.

Some 187,000 bpd of Venezuelan crude and fuel went to storage terminals in the Caribbean for further sales.

The trading firms carried about 56% of total exports or 691,000 bpd, while U.S. company Chevron CVX.N was responsible for 25% or 308,000 bpd, an increase from 267,000 bpd in March.

Indian refiner Reliance Industries RELI.NS received a large crude cargo directly from PDVSA and bought several from the traders last month, the data showed.

Under the supply pact, Venezuela's oil exports have gained diversity while reaching more customers over recent months, a shift from limitations imposed by previous sanctions. The U.S. continues controlling the OPEC country's sale proceeds through Treasury Department-supervised accounts.

Sales to Reliance are set to continue growing this month, with at least three supertankers chartered by the Indian firm waiting to load at Venezuela's ports, according to LSEG ship monitoring data.

Venezuela also exported 360,000 metric tons of oil byproducts and petrochemicals in April, slightly below the 382,000 tons of the previous month; and imported some 141,000 bpd of naphtha versus 155,000 bpd in March.

(Reporting by Marianna Parraga and Mircely Guanipa. Editing by Nathan Crooks, Mark Potter and Andrea Ricci )

(([email protected]; +1 713 371 7559; Reuters Messaging: @mariannaparraga))

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

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, April 30 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The jobs crisis stirring in India’s vast outsourcing industry spells trouble for the country’s $4 trillion consumption-led economy. With the gap between household income and spending already widening, the consequences of the churn on finance and markets will be far-reaching.

White collar jobs are starting to disappear in the world’s services capital where many global firms employ thousands of staff in global capability centres that are responsible for everything from back-office functions to fraud detection to critical research and development.

Following the launch of artificial intelligence tools by Anthropic and others that allow companies do the same amount of work with fewer people, Oracle ORCL.N laid off 10,000 workers, or one-fifth of its India workforce in March, and Amazon.com AMZN.O let go of 500 people in the country in January, the Economic Times reported, citing sources. It looks like just the beginning of the headcount reductions.

One executive of a global bank told Reuters Breakingviews their workforce in India could shrink by one-third. This could happen quickly within just one or two years because of the double digit attrition rates at offices of global firms in cities including Bengaluru, Gurugram and Pune. JPMorgan Chase JPM.N has a whopping 55,000 employees in the country, which equals about one-fifth of its total workforce and includes one-third of all its technologists; HSBC’s HSBA.L 47,000 local employees make up 23% of its global headcount.

Then there is also “AI deflation” – the term Indian IT firms that typically lap up fresh graduates use to refer to slowing revenue growth. Annual revenue in U.S. dollar terms at industry leader Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS shrunk for the year ended March 2026, marking the first decline since the $97 billion company's initial public offering ​in 2004.

Altogether, global capability centres and the IT sector employ up to 15 million people who anchor India’s middle class and whose jobs are under threat from generative AI, Bernstein analysts Venugopal Garre and Nikhil Arela said last week in an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Though this is a small fraction of India’s 616-million-strong workforce comprised mostly of swathes of informal and agricultural workers, the AI vulnerable cohort represents a sizeable chunk of the employed within the rising middle class. With fewer jobs, there will also be pressure on salaries for those who keep theirs.

For India, advances in generative AI are intensifying the intractable challenge of creating enough jobs in a country that skipped over the traditional manufacturing route and where 8 million people enter the workforce each year. Modi's push to drive manufacturing isn’t softening the blow much either, thanks to factory automation.

There are already signs that India’s world-beating 7.8% growth is decoupling from employment generation: New Delhi’s latest Economic Survey notes that since 2022 – the same year that OpenAI launched ChatGPT -- the labour intensity of output has marginally declined. That rupture will deepen unless workers upskill, the survey says, with the change coming “not in a single shock, but in a quiet, steady drift”.

This threatens a blow to spending on what people want, rather than what they need. Private consumption accounts for about 60% of GDP and the top 140 million Indians who on average each earn roughly $15,000 per annum, according to Blume Ventures, drive two-thirds of discretionary spending.

Any contraction in their incomes could force them to cut back, hitting sales of goods from new homes to cars and demand for experiences from dining out to live events. There will be a ripple effect too: Middle-class homes in India employ cooks, cleaners and drivers.

Demand for their services, and those of India’s vast gig economy servicing the middle class, would recede. That puts at risk earnings of carmakers, consumer groups and financial services providers which, together with Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries RELI.NS – the owner of India’s largest retailer - account for nearly 62% of the benchmark Nifty 50 index .NSEI. Sluggish consumption is already hurting some of them: small car sales slowed at Maruti Suzuki India MRTI.NS last year and Unilever's ULVR.L Indian unit has been grappling with weak urban demand.

A potential 30% reduction in the 15-million-strong outsourcing and global capability centre workforce over the next two years could shrink the top consuming class by about 5 million to 135 million.

Assuming Blume Ventures' annual income estimate of $15,000, this cohort's total spending power stands to fall by roughly $75 billion a year, assuming those people don't find other employment or sources of income. That's equivalent to 10% of the Nifty 50 constituents’ net sales of 71.3 trillion rupees ($755 billion) for the financial year ended March 2025, per data from the National Stock Exchange.

Overall household savings are already declining as indebtedness mounts: Indians saved barely 23% of their personal disposable income in the financial year to March 2025, according to an estimate by CLSA, down from nearly 30% two decades earlier. Debt as a share of disposable income surged to 55% from 31% over the same period.

While India’s household debt to GDP ratio is much lower than for most peer economies, meagre earnings mean Indians end up spending 13% of their income on repaying borrowings, higher than 8.5% for China and 8% for the US.

Much of what Indians borrow goes towards financing consumption rather than creating assets. Households are leveraging up to pay for everything from overseas vacations to weddings and smartphone purchases.

Such financing, which the Reserve Bank of India calls non-housing retail loans, makes up 55% of household obligations and is growing faster than mortgages. India's household debt to GDP ratio stands at 41.9%. If half of those borrowings are consumption-linked, it implies household discretionary debt amounts to roughly 21% of GDP. Apply that to India’s nominal GDP of 331 trillion rupees for 2024-25 and you have at risk loans worth 69 trillion rupees across the country’s banks and non-bank lenders.

This threatens the loan quality at financial institutions led by the $130 billion HDFC Bank HDBK.NS as well as lenders backed by global investors from Sumitomo Mitsui Financial 8316.T to Blackstone BX.N who are accelerating their expansion in India to tap retail credit demand.

The impact of AI on the global workforce may ultimately create more jobs. First, though, it may turn India’s already weak consumption and much-vaunted demographic dividend into a nightmare.

Follow Shritama Bose on LinkedIn and X.

(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

NEW DELHI, April 28 (Reuters) - India has asked motorists to avoid panic buying and clarified that there was no proposal to raise pump prices for diesel and gasoline, a government official said on Tuesday.

"We have adequate supplies of liquefied petroleum gas, petrol, and diesel. There has been no increase in prices. Please avoid panic buying and do not believe rumours," Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary in the federal oil ministry, said at a news conference on Tuesday in an appeal to buyers.

India, the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer, has been hit by rising oil prices triggered by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S.-Isreli war on Iran.

India's crude import prices rose to $120 per barrel earlier this month, denting the margins of retailers on the sale of gasoline and gasoil, as the higher costs have not been factored into the pump prices.

Indian refiners have not raised pump prices of gasoline and gasoil in four years to shield consumers, despite volatility in global markets.

Analysts at Kotak Institutional Equities in a recent report estimated there was a need to raise the price of a liter of gasoline and gasoil by 25-28 rupees after elections in some states end on April 29.

According to estimates by Mumbai-based ICICI Securities, profit after tax for these oil retailers likely declined by 82% in the March quarter over a year ago, as crude oil costs soared but retail prices did not move up in tandem.

Reliance Industries RELI.NS, operator of the world's biggest refining complex and India’s biggest company by market value, late last week flagged "unprecedented" supply disruptions and a sharp hit to profit in its March-quarter earnings.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

(([email protected]; X: @nidhi712;))

April 24 (Reuters) - Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries RELI.NS posted a 12% slump in net profit for the fourth quarter, missing market expectations.

Consolidated net profit fell to 169.71 billion rupees ($1.80 billion) for the quarter ended March 31, missing analysts' average estimate of 201.16 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.

($1 = 94.2475 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Chandini Monnappa in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)

(([email protected]; https://www.linkedin.com/in/chandini-monnappa-8a37b013b/;))

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

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, April 23 (Reuters Breakingviews) - There's more pain ahead of India's largest conglomerate. Shares in Mukesh Ambani's $200 billion Reliance Industries RELI.NS are under pressure as the Iran conflict weighs on its refining cash cow business that accounts for nearly a third of the group's EBITDA. Reliance's shares have fallen 13% so far this year, twice as much as the decline in the benchmark Nifty 50 Index .NSEI. But even a swift end to the war looks unlikely to bring immediate relief.

Like most refiners relying on imported crude, Reliance - which is set to report full-year earnings on Friday - will take a hit from rising premiums on the black stuff as well as a spike in freight costs. In addition, the group is exposed to New Delhi's new export levies on diesel and aviation turbine fuel - a type of windfall tax that applies to shipments from one of its two refineries in Jamnagar in Western India.

The government's attempt to plug a nationwide cooking gas shortage will hurt too. Under an official mandate to maximise domestic supply, Reliance has had to ramp up production but at the expense of higher-margin products like polypropylene plastic used in packaging and consumer goods. That will result in foregone revenue of $1.2 billion for the year - or 2% of the refining division's topline for the fiscal year ended March 2025, calculates Vivekanand Subbaraman, analyst at brokerage Ambit.

Against this backdrop, Reliance's refining division - traditionally the conglomerate's most stable profit engine - is expected to see a sharp slowdown in earnings growth. Discounted Russian oil should help bolster EBITDA to $6.7 billion in the fiscal year to March 2026, up 13%, per Visible Alpha. But that is forecast to slow to 11% and then 5% in the next two years.

Peace in the coming months might not quickly boost growth either: New Delhi's previous attempt at extracting windfall taxes stayed in place for 18 months until January 2024, for example. Moreover, Reliance has other headaches, primarily, Chinese refiners ramping up production and driving down prices. In January the group said 7 million tons of new refining capacity is likely to start this year in China, which may outweigh the impact of supply cuts elsewhere in Europe and Korea.

And while the group's retail and telecoms businesses now account for half of EBITDA, consumers have been tightening their belts in the $4 trillion economy. It looks like a bumpy road ahead.

Follow Shritama Bose on LinkedIn and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

Reliance Industries will report earnings for the three months and financial year ended March 31 on April 24.

(Editing by Robyn Mak; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

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

NEW DELHI, April 20 (Reuters) - India's federal crime fighting agency said it has arrested an official from the country's aviation regulator and a Reliance Industries RELI.NS executive on allegations of bribery related to securing regulatory approvals to import drones.

In a statement late on Sunday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said it had acted following a tip-off that the Reliance executive and the government official had settled on an amount of 1.5 million rupees ($16,000) to process three applications related to drone imports by Asteria Aerospace.

The CBI named the two men as Mudavath Devula, a deputy director general at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), and Bharat Mathur, a senior vice president from Reliance.

Asteria is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries' technology arm Jio Platforms, which is led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani.

The DGCA, Reliance and Asteria did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. Devula and Mathur could not be immediately reached as they were in police custody.

The CBI initiated the investigation on an "allegation that the accused public servant of DGCA demanded undue advantage from the private persons in lieu of issuing approvals and permissions of applications pending with DGCA," the statement said.

Asteria's website says it is a drone technology company providing intelligence from aerial data, and develops customised drone solutions. It has more than 400 drones deployed so far.

Ambani's Jio Platforms is also gearing up to file papers seeking regulatory approvals for a Mumbai listing, in what is likely to be India's biggest-ever stock offering.

The arrest is also a setback for India’s aviation watchdog, the DGCA, which is already grappling with severe staffing shortages while overseeing a sector where airlines are frequently found to have breached safety norms.

The police arrested the two men in New Delhi and seized 250,000 Indian rupees in cash. Further searches at premises of the DGCA official and other "private persons" led to the seizure of 3.7 million Indian rupees ($40,000), and gold and silver coins, the CBI said.

The CBI's list of the two's suspected offences, detailed in a publicly released case document, included criminal conspiracy and "bribing a public servant by commercial organisation".

India ranked 91 on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index last year from 76 a decade ago.

(Reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Kate Mayberry)

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April 17 (Reuters) -

• AMBANI’S JIO PLATFORMS IS SAID TO PLAN FILING FOR IPO NEXT MONTH - BLOOMBERG NEWS

• TIMELINE FOR JIO'S FILING WAS PUSHED BACK DUE TO A MARKET DOWNTURN STEMMING FROM THE WAR IN IRAN- BLOOMBERG NEWS

Source text: https://tinyurl.com/27659ncl

(([email protected];))

April 15 (Reuters) - Warner Bros Discovery Inc WBD.O:

• WARNER BROS DISCOVERY INC: JIOHOTSTAR AND WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY EXPAND PARTNERSHIP WITH EXCLUSIVE LAUNCH OF HBO MAX IN INDIA

• WARNER BROS DISCOVERY - HBO MAX ADD-ON PACK LAUNCHES ON JIOHOTSTAR AT ₹49 PER MONTH

Further company coverage: WBD.O

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By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI, April 13 (Reuters) - Two very large crude carriers loaded with Iranian oil have reached Indian ports, ship tracking data from LSEG shows, as local refiners utilise a temporary waiver granted by the United States last month to resume purchases from Tehran for the first time in seven years.

The current waiver is due to expire on April 19.

The Iran-flagged Felicity has reached Sikka Port in western India, while the Curacao-flagged Jaya is at the eastern port of Odisha, the data shows.

A VLCC carries 2 million barrels of oil.

India, the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer, has not received a cargo from Iran since May 2019 after coming under U.S. pressure not to buy the country's crude.

Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS, the country's top refiner, has bought Iranian oil loaded on the Jaya, a vessel under U.S. sanctions, Reuters reported last week.

India has also allowed Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS, the operator of the world's biggest refining complex, to buy Iranian oil loaded on the Comoros-flagged aframax Kaviz, Curacao-flagged VLCC Lenore and Iran-flagged VLCCs Felicity and Hedy, all of which are more than 20 years old and are also under U.S. sanctions.

​

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

(([email protected]; X: @nidhi712;))

April 10 (Reuters) -

• JIO BP EXEC: NO CAP ON RETAIL FUEL SALES

• JIO BP EXEC: MARCH GASOLINE SALES UP 30% Y/Y, DIESEL SALES UP 25% Y/Y

• JIO BP EXEC: ENOUGH FUEL AVAILABLE FOR CONSUMERS

• JIO BP EXEC: NO IMMEDIATE PLANS TO RAISE PUMP PRICES

Further company coverage: RELI.NS

(([email protected];))

April 9 (Reuters) - Indian fuel retailers are buying diesel from refiners at discounted rates to shield customers from any price hike, an industry source said on Thursday.

The new pricing formula is based on India's crude import price, the source told reporters.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

(([email protected];))

By Jeslyn Lerh

SINGAPORE, April 8 (Reuters) - Shippers looking to revive the passage of tankers through the Strait of Hormuz were seeking clarity on the logistics, while refiners inquired about new crude loadings on Wednesday, in response to a ceasefire deal between the U.S. and Iran.

Most stranded oil and gas tankers remained inside the Gulf, LSEG shipping data showed, hours after President Donald Trump announced the two-week ceasefire and said the U.S. would help with the traffic build-up.

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said that if attacks against it stop, Tehran would cease counter-attacks and provide safe passage in coordination with its armed forces "and with due consideration of technical limitations".

Ship tracker Kpler said some 187 laden tankers carrying 172 million barrels of crude oil and refined products were afloat inside the strait as of Tuesday.

With more than 1,000 ocean-going vessels trapped within the gulf, it would likely take more than two weeks to clear the backlog even under normal conditions, said Daejin Lee, global head of research at Fertmax FZCO.

"A 14-day window is simply too short to restore the level of confidence needed to fully unwind the embedded uncertainty premium - particularly for Arabian Gulf loading routes," he said.

Lee said details remained unclear, including what actions ships and charterers must take to gain passage.

"Many blue-chip shipowners may wait several days to ensure the ceasefire holds before committing vessels," he said.

Jakob Larsen, chief safety and security officer at shipping association Bimco, said the industry was awaiting technical details from the U.S. and Iran.

"Leaving the ... Gulf without prior coordination with the U.S. and Iran would entail heightened risk and would not be advisable," he said.

WAIT-AND-SEE

Iran blockaded the strait in response to U.S. and Israeli attacks that started on February 28, all but closing the waterway through which 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas cargoes transit, sending energy prices soaring and rattling economies and markets.

The ceasefire, announced about 90 minutes before Trump's deadline to reopen the strait, led to a plunge in oil prices.

Two shipbrokers said shipowners are likely to remain in a wait-and-see mode before allowing vessels to enter the Gulf.

Inquiries for very large crude carriers to load Middle East crude for Asia jumped on Wednesday with Asian refiners including Reliance Industries RELI.NS, Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS, Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical and CNOOC, as well as Abu Dhabi National Oil Co, Glencore GLEN.L and TotalEnergies TTEF.PA, looking for vessels, three shipping sources said.

Glencore and TotalEnergies declined to comment. The other firms named did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Danish shipping group Maersk MAERSKb.CO said the ceasefire may create transit opportunities for vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, but that it did not yet provide full maritime certainty.

Indonesia's foreign ministry said it is working with Iranian authorities to secure the passage of two Pertamina vessels that have been stranded in the gulf.

"Several technical matters are being followed up to ensure safe passage through, including matters such as insurance and crew readiness," said ministry spokesperson Vahd Nabyl Achmad Mulachela.

China's foreign ministry said it hopes all parties make joint efforts to facilitate early resumption of normal trade through the strait, while Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi held talks with Iran's president.

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.

"Most of the crude tankers will be allowed to pass," he said, adding that he expects more than 50 Very Large Crude Carriers and about 15 Suezmaxes to exit.

(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; Writing by Florence Tan; Editing by Tony Munroe and Alexander Smith)

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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] /))

** India's Nifty 50 .NSEI and Sensex .BSESN rise 0.7% each, after falling as much as 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively, earlier in the session

** U.S. and Iran receive framework of a plan to end hostilities, Reuters reports citing sources, a day after President Donald Trump threatened to rain "hell" on Tehran if it did not make a deal

** Twelve of 16 major sectors trade higher; broader small-caps .NIFSMCP100 and mid-caps .NIFMDCP100 up about 1% each

** Heavyweight financials .NIFTYFIN rise 1.7% after lenders report strong loan growth, overshadowing 3.4% losses in Reliance RELI.NS amid concerns over hit to refining margins

** HDFC Bank HDBK.NS and Bajaj Finance BJFN.NS rise 1.7% each after quarterly business updates; lead gains in financials

** Trent TREN.NS soars 6.8% on strong Q4 sales update

** Real estate company Sobha SOBH.NS and D-Mart operator Avenue Supermarts AVEU.NS rise 3.8% and 2.8%, respectively, after business updates

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M)

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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];))

** Shares of India's Reliance Industries RELI.NS fall 4.5% to a more than three-week low at 1,349.40 rupees after India cuts excise duties on petrol and diesel and imposes windfall taxes on jet fuel and diesel exports

** Morgan Stanley says new export tax on diesel and jet fuel trims Reliance's margins by about $1.5-$2 per barrel but excise cut removes part of the market's concern over broader windfall levies on the sector

** Adds overall effect remains earnings-accretive for Reliance at current refining margins, softening the negative read-through

** Brokerage says tax move is a near-term margin headwind for RELI rather than a broader call reversal

** Shares down about 14% YTD; 34 analysts have a price target of 1,700 rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG

(Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; Ph no. +91 9590227221;))

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]))

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];))