Reliance's Market Value Erosion: Can Ambani's Companies Drive a Comeback?

Mukesh Ambani's stocks have lost a combined Rs 2.4 lakh crore in market value over the past year, with flagship Reliance Industries Ltd losing Rs 2.21 lakh crore. Despite concerns over the Jio IPO, analysts expect Jio to drive RIL's growth with a 19% EBITDA CAGR through FY28. Jio Financial Services posted a 3.8% rise in June-quarter profit, while Just Dial's Q1 FY26 profit increased 13% but collections fell nearly 20% sequentially.

Mukesh Ambani's stocks have lost a combined Rs 2.4 lakh crore in market value over the past year, with flagship Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) losing Rs 2.21 lakh crore. Despite concerns over the Jio IPO, analysts expect Jio to drive RIL's growth with a 19% EBITDA CAGR through FY28. Jio Financial Services posted a 3.8% rise in June-quarter profit, while Just Dial's Q1 FY26 profit increased 13% but collections fell nearly 20% sequentially.

On Friday, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) witnessed a decline in its stock price, even as Chairman Mukesh Ambani unveiled two significant announcements at the company’s 48th Annual General Meeting (AGM). The stock dropped over 2%, touching an intraday low of Rs 1,350 on the BSE [1].

At the 2025 Reliance AGM, Chairman Mukesh Ambani unveiled a landmark initiative — a new AI joint venture with Meta, aimed at creating India-focused artificial intelligence solutions. Ambani said the collaboration would merge Meta’s open-source AI models with Reliance’s vast expertise across industries such as energy, telecom, retail, media, and manufacturing [1].

Despite these ambitious plans, investor sentiment remained subdued, leading to the sharp fall in share price. Reliance Industries’ much-anticipated Jio IPO, once expected by the end of 2025, will now hit the markets in the first half of 2026, according to the company’s AGM announcement [2]. While the shift in timeline has sparked questions, analysts suggest the delay is less about hesitation and more about timing a mega listing in a volatile telecom landscape [2].

Jio Financial Services aims to be a leading, full-stack financial services institution with significant market share. The company is in a strategic build-out phase at the moment with diverse businesses which are either being scaled up or newly incubated [3]. The company reported a steady increase in income from business operations, which increased to around 40% of consolidated total net income in Q1FY26, from nearly 12% in the year-ago period [3].

Market watchers see the formal timeline as a sign of urgency and preparedness from Reliance. The extra lead time will allow Jio to strengthen its financials, potentially push for tariff revisions, and enter the IPO with stronger fundamentals. For investors, the Jio listing could prove to be one of the biggest equity events in Indian markets, unlocking substantial value but also reshaping Reliance into more of a holding entity [2].

References:
[1] https://www.republicworld.com/business/reliance-industries-share-price-today-how-did-mukesh-ambani-led-ril-stock-perform-after-jio-ipo-and-ai-push
[2] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/ipos/fpos/reliance-jio-ipo-delay-to-2026-seen-as-strategic-move-amid-tariff-uncertainty/articleshow/123634502.cms
[3] https://www.financialexpress.com/business/industry-jionbspfinancialnbspservices-to-aggressively-grownbspmarketnbspshare-md-hitesh-sethia-3960673/