RIL is now world's second largest oil company; overtakes ExxonMobil

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has now become the world's second largest energy firm after it surpassed ExxonMobil. On Friday, RIL rose 4.3 per cent, taking its market value to $189 billion, while ExxonMobil lost about $1 billion. ExxonMobil has a m-cap of $184.7 billion. Saudi Aramco, with a market capitalisation of over $1.75 lakh crore, is the world's largest company.

So far this year, RIL shares have surged 46 per cent, while Exxon's have dipped 39 per cent as refiners globally struggled with a fall in fuel demand. RIL share price had touched a bottom of Rs 867 on March 23 when the total market value of the company stood at Rs 5.5 lakh crore or $73.5 billion. Record low crude oil prices and OPEC production cuts have led to collapse of refining margins, hurting big oil companies including Exxon and Chevron.

RIL added $115.9 billion to shareholder wealth within just four months - one of the highest value creation feats in the world in such a short time - mostly on the back of record fundraising from equity dilution in its digital unit, Jio Platforms. In total, RIL raised Rs 2,12,809 crore through rights Issue, equity sale in Jio Platforms, and investment by BP in its fuel retailing venture. RIL is way ahead than its Indian peers - Tata Consultancy Services (m-cap of Rs 8.27 lakh crore) and HDFC Bank (m-cap of Rs 6.05 lakh crore).

Besides being higher than ExxonMobil in m-cap globally, RIL is also above Chevron as well as the likes of Oracle, Unilever, Bank of China, BHP Group, Royal Dutch Shell and SoftBank Group.Also read: Coronavirus update: COVID-19 tally crosses 14 lakh-mark; nearly 50,000 fresh cases in 24 hours

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