Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), has issued Rs.2,000 crore of 5-year Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs), bearing a coupon of 8.23% per annum, payable annually. The issue has been assigned a rating of AAA by CRISIL and ICRA. The proceeds of the issuance shall be utilized by RJIL for rolling out a state-of-the-art digital services business in India.
RJIL is the first issuer outside the financial services industry in India, to raise funds digitally through the EBP route. This is also the largest debt issuance in the Indian market by any issuer since the electronic bidding platform has been mandated by SEBI for private placement of debt, effective 1st July this year.
The transaction was fully subscribed within minutes of opening and was eventually over-subscribed with a total book size in excess of Rs.3,500 crores, Reliance Jio said.
“We are overwhelmed by the response that we have received for our maiden issuance on the BSE-BOND platform. It reinforces the faith investors have in our next generation digital services business. The launch of EBP platform is a significant step towards the development of market infrastructure for Indian Corporate Bond market. It will make the debt issuance process significantly more smooth and transparent for issuers as well as investors”, said Soumyo Dutta, Treasurer, Reliance Industries Limited.
RJIL is setting up an entire digital ecosystem with stated goal to break the digital divide between ‘India’ and ‘Bharat’ and propel India into global leadership in digital economy. The ecosystem consist of pan-India high speed data network, specially designed devices to run on this network, a wide variety of applications and services – from news, entertainment, payment, business, healthcare and education and rich content.
