Why Reliance Industries Did Not Announce Ex-Date For Its 1:1 Bonus

Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Industries Ltd. had announced a bonus issue of 1:1 on the day of its AGM on Aug. 29, 2024. The board of the company subsequently met a few days later to confirm and approve the bonus issue.

The company subsequently obtained shareholders' nod for the bonus issue through postal ballot. But the company is yet to announce the ex-date for the bonus issue.

It was widely anticipated that RIL will announce the record date and ex-date for the bonus issue when the board met on Oct. 14, 2024 for the second quarter earnings. But no decision on the ex-date was announced.

So why the delay?

The company received representation from a set of investors holding partly paid shares of the company seeking more time to pay up and convert the partly paid shares into fully paid shares. RIL had 4.17 lakh partly paid shares held by non-institutions at the end of March 2024.

On Sept. 23, the company announced that it will extend the last date for the unpaid call money to Oct. 7, 2024.

Investors who pay-up the unpaid call money will be eligible for:

• RIL bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1.

• Equity shares of Jio Financial Services Ltd. currently lying with the JFSL Trust- PPS (RIL).

• Avoid forfeiture of the amount already paid and gaining the embedded value of the shares.

So, while the last date for payment for unpaid call money has passed, the company will have to follow the process of reconciliation of investors who have completed the payment. The company will have to extinguish the partly paid shares and issue fully paid shares to the investors and list the shares on the stock exchanges.

This process may take few weeks before the new shares are listed and the company announces record date for the bonus issue.