Why Anil Ambani is more affluent despite RCom losing Rs 3,310 crores

As worsening money matters force Reliance Communications to drag its feet, owner Anil Ambani's fortunes have made a leap of (Rs 528 crores). The telecom arm of Reliance Group is feeling the heat from rising losses in an extremely competitive sector, debt liabilities and decline in stock and sell-off bonds, but its sister concerns are mitigating damages for Reliance Group.

Fortunately, RCom got into trouble at a time other subsidiaries of Reliance Group are doing well. The financial services arm of the conglomerate Reliance Capital Ltd. made the biggest addition to Reliance Group's net worth, along with Reliance Power Ltd.

Meanwhile, Group's Reliance Defence and Engineering Ltd offer favourable prospects by bagging defence contracts, Reliance Infrastructure Ltd is planning to list a trust with some of its road assets. All this while the telecom company fights to keep its investors interested.

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This kept Reliance Group from troubled waters even though Reliance Communications lost Rs 3,310 crores from its market value as its shares tanked 39 per cent. RCom's shares traded at Rs 20.60 late this afternoon around Rs 20.60 at BSE, down by almost a 0.2 per cent.

Reliance Communication stocks tanked by as much as 20 per cent after it declared losses to the tune of Rs 948 crores in the fourth quarter, this being second in a row. Meanwhile, several credit rating agencies downgraded its debt to dismal levels.

ICRA downgraded RCom's debt over reservations about its profitability and debt burden. Similarly US-based credit agency Fitch Ratings downgraded billionaire Anil Ambani-owned telecom firm Reliance Communications further into junk territory on Thursday, becoming the latest credit agency to cast doubt on the Indian mobile phone operator's ability to meet its heavy debts.

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Moody's downgraded RCom from Caa1 to B2 indicating that its obligations are speculative and run high credit risk. Joining other rating agencies, Fitch Ratings also downgraded Reliance Communications' debt, saying some kind of default is a "real possibility".

Anil's RCom is also feeling the impact of disruptive telecom sector that rose out of aggressive marketing policies of Reliance Jio Infocomm, owned by his elder brother Mukesh Ambani. The Reliance Group entered the telecom sector in 2002, but the conglomerate broke apart after things turned sour between the two brothers in 2005.

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