Reliance Industries Bonus Shares To Trade From Samvat 2081

The bonus shares allotted by Reliance Industries Ltd. as part of its 1:1 bonus issue will start trading on the bourses from Friday, when a special one-hour Diwali Muhurat trading session will be held to mark the beginning of Samvat 2081.

Trading members are informed that the "new securities of Reliance Industries Ltd. are listed and permitted to trade on the exchange with effect from Friday, Nov. 1, 2024," stated a notice issued by the BSE.

RIL completed the allotment of a total of 6,76,61,86,449 bonus equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each on Oct. 29. "These shares are ranking pari-passu with the old equity shares of the company," BSE noted.

The date for the debut of bonus shares on the exchanges coincides with the Laxmi Pujan date of Diwali, which is considered by several Indians as an auspicious period for taking financial decisions.

The bonus issue was announced by RIL during its annual general meeting in August. The board nod for the issue was granted last month, and Oct. 28 was fixed as the record date to determine the shareholders eligible for the allotment of bonus shares.

This marks the sixth bonus issue for the oil-to-telecom conglomerate since its listing, and the second in this decade.

The company's first bonus issue dates back to fiscal 1981, approved at a 3:5 ratio. This was followed by a 6:10 issue in fiscal 1984, and three issues with the ratios of 1:1 each in fiscals 1998, 2010, and 2018.

Shares of RIL were trading 1.11% lower at Rs 1,329 apiece on the NSE, compared to a 0.56% decline in the benchmark Nifty 50 at 2:50 p.m.

The stock has risen by 2.8% on a year-to-date basis, and by 16.1% over the past 12 months.

Among the 38 analysts tracking the company, 31 have a 'buy' rating on its stock, four suggest a 'hold', and three recommend a 'sell', as per Bloomberg data. The average of 12-month analysts' price target implies a potential upside of 16.1%.