The expansion plans for Jamnagar facility approximate an investment of US $11 billion. The announcement of this latest undertaking was made at the signing ceremony hosted at SACE’s Headquarters in Rome, Italy. Commenting on the occasion was the CEO of SACE, Alessandro Castellano, who said, “SACE’s guarantee is both a relevant growth catalyst and an important leverage for the competitiveness of Italian exporters, along with quality and price of products. The deal confirms our partnership with a key global player like Reliance Industries and paves the way for a further promotion of trade-related business between Indian and Italian companies, particularly the large number of small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the country.”This deal is the 4thconcluded with Reliance Industries since 2004 and brings to US$1 billion the overall credit facilities backed by SACE for the conglomerate.

The mega-ambitious project will look at setting up of petrochemical units, a gasification plant and refinery off-gas cracker, among others. On realization, this project is likely to fire Reliance’s production graphs and position the conglomerate in an advantageous position. Additionally, SACE will continue its role as the business facilitator in India by making its way into the Indian subcontinent to regulate operations in South Asia.

This deal comes through soon after RIL noted its plans for buying back equity shares to shore up its Share prices. Now termed as the largest every buyback plan in Indian corporate history, RIL’s plans is signalling promise to its shareholders and investors of the fact that the company is will go lengths to retain the integrity of its share price which makes the company India’s most valuable.

The memorial was inaugurated with much fan-fare on the 80thbirth anniversary of Dhirubhai HirachandAmbani on December 28th 2011 by the Ambani family’s spiritual guru Ramesh BhaiOza. Along with all the members of the Ambani family, 150 members of Reliance group and those associated with the family were also present to induct the ceremonial opening of the memorial.

The memorial has been instituted within the complex where Dhirubhai Ambani spent most of his childhood. It was in a rented section of the bungalow (then called ‘MangarolwaloDelo’) where Dhirubhai Ambani and his family used to live. The patriarch went on to purchase the bungalow in 2002, which is now renamed as ‘DhirubhainoDelo’.

The memorial complex has three sections, comprising a picture gallery, the old residence of Dhirubhai Ambani and an auditorium for screening a short film on Dhirubhai’s life to the visitors of memorial. The original structure of the house has been kept the same while some portion has been converted into a museum of sorts. The founder of Reliance has been immortalised in an array of sepia toned pictures which stand symbolic of his life-journey and that of Reliance. The section of the complex which used to be the residence of the Reliance patriarch has been re-structured to resemble the actual residence from his time.

Dhirubhai Ambani -the founder of Reliance –is well-known for pioneering India’s biggest and most renowned private sector company for nearly forty years. From what could be seen as a modest start as a small time trader to instituting one of the most revered companies in the Indian business quarter, Dhirubhai Ambani’s life journey is that of inspiration. He is credited with having rolled out a business model that companies follow even today in an effort to reach at the top of the ladder of success once held by the Ambani patriarch himself.

S&P is of the view that Reliance Industries Limited’s liquidity will continue to hold fort despite the buyback, considering the company’s significant cash and cash equivalent reserves of Rs. 745 billion as on Dec 31st2011. And given the buyback is expected to produce at least Rs. 104 billion in cash outflow, the additional sum will only help mitigate the impact of volatile operating performances in refining and petrochemicals quarter, if any. The S&Ps report cited that the rating on RIL had already factored in these volatile elements, including the challenges the company is facing with respect to its prolific KG-D6 gas block in the Andhra coast.

Reliance Industries present rating of BBB+ is reflective of the fact that the company has adequate capacity to meet its financial commitments. However, adverse economic conditions or changing circumstances could possibly lead to weakening of the capacity of the obligor to meet its financial commitments. Regardless of this, if cynical discrepancies do erupt to hinder Reliance Industries core business’ performances, the support foundation in the form of robust cash reserves will help impede any adversity to a large extent. “We believe RIL’s financial performance will remain strong in the next 12 months, with the ratio of adjusted debt to EBITDA at less than 1.5x. We adjust the ratio for cash and cash equivalent excluding Rs 75 billion, which we assume the company needs for its operations. In our view, RIL’s business strategy, particularly the use of its significant cash balances, would be a key determinant of any future rating action on the company”, stated S&P in its statement.

A buyback involves repurchase of outstanding shares by a company, either through a tender offer or an open market purchase, usually to off set the decline in value of shares available with the company by reducing the number of outstanding shares. While RIL has not yet specified the quantum of shares it is planning to buy back or a timeline, it has filed a notice with the exchange for its upcoming plans. Many industry analysts speculate that this buyout may just rescue RIL out is diminishing profit graph. According to Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), a company is allowed to repurchase its shares worth up to 10% of its paid-up capital without shareholder approval and 25% with shareholder resolution. RIL’s proposed buy back corpus is estimated to be around Rs. 15,000 crore (without shareholder approval) or Rs.25, 000 crore (with shareholder approval).It is speculated that Reliance will make use of its $12 billion cash and cash equivalent assets to sponsor this buyout program. The last time Reliance Industries pulled off a major buy back plan was back in December 2004 when it repurchased and extinguished 28.69 lakh shares worth Rs. 150 crore.

If this program is to materialize in its absolute terms, it will not only boost RIL’s share price, it will also signal strong growth prospects to investors and promoters of the company, even if it chooses not to spend the entire corpus it has set aside for repurchase.Reliance has been trying to ramp-up the declining output from its prolific KG-D6 gas field, and because the process will take time to show favorable implications on RIL’s tock valuation, within that time, a buyout is being considered as good prospect. Also, if the estimated premium of 10-15% is being considered over current stock prices, the value of RIL shares could trail north in the range of Rs. 850-900 per share.

Reliance Industries has been given a reprieve by the DGH in the KG-D6 basin case. The official Statement from the DGH states that INdian govt cannot stop Reliance Industries not recover cost from D6 basin.

Reliance Industries has divested its interests in ETV channel to TV18 broadcast limited. This step comes as Reliance wants to strengthen the foundation before launching its 4G broad band services under the Flagship company Infotel.