Reliance Industries Ltd, which has invested a whopping Rs 8,100 crore in the group’s telecom business, has a direct equity stake of only 7.57 per cent in Reliance Infocomm Ltd, now controlled by Mukesh Ambani.On the other hand, Mukesh Ambani, RIL CMD, has a higher direct stake of 12 per cent in the largest private sector telecom company in India. His stake is worth around Rs 7,200 crore if one takes into account the Rs 60,000 crore valuation of Infocomm by Merrill Lynch in April 2004.If a filing done by Reliance Infocomm while going for an external commercial borrowing (ECB) in July this year is any indication, RIL’s stake was diluted from 8.61 per cent last year. As per the filing, Mukesh Ambani came in as the promoter of Reliance Infocomm when he was allotted 12 per cent stake in 2004. Before that, he did not have a direct shareholding. When contacted on the phone and through emails, Reliance officials did not comment on the issue.Reliance Infocomm’s parent company, Reliance Communication Infrastructure (RCIL) holds 65.2 per cent stake — diluted from the earlier level of 74.1 per cent after Mukesh Ambani got the stake — in the former now.But in RCIL also, Reliance Industries has no majority holding. It holds only 45 per cent— Mukesh Ambani and associates control around 55 per cent. But the funding has come largely from RIL. Of the Rs 12,000 crore investment, Rs 8,100 crore was put by RIL directly through a preference share issue. The balance was routed via Reliance Communication, which owns the infrastructure used by Reliance Infocomm.Mukesh Ambani has reportedly spent only Rs 50 crore for his 12 per cent stake in Reliance Infocomm.In a message earlier this week, Reliance said: “If and when RIL decides to convert its preference shares to equity, its holding in RIC (Reliance Infocomm) can exceed 45 per cent (direct and indirect). Likewise, as and when RIC issues further capital, commensurate with its needs, the holding of the original investors can get diluted.” Significantly, Mukesh Ambani is the only RIL director on the board of Reliance Infocomm. The other directors on the board — Anand Jain, Manoj Modi and Bharat Goenka — are close associates of Mukesh Ambani.
