The total market capitalization of six Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group firms stood at Rs 6,196 crore, at Monday’s market close against Rs 8,000 crore just four months back. Accordingly, Chairman Anil Ambani’s worth is much below $1 billion. The figure can be significantly lower considering the group has pledged most of the promoter holdings with lenders.
Ambani said last Tuesday that his group repaid more than Rs 35,000 crore of loans in the last 14 months and claimed that all future payment obligations would be met in a timely manner.
The very next day, Price Waterhouse & Co, an affiliate of PricewaterhouseCoopers, resigned as the auditor of Reliance Capital and its Reliance Home Finance, alleging diversion of funds and fraud.
Ambani sold his 42.88 percent stake in mutual fund joint venture Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management (RNLAM) last week, which is one of the reasons for sharp erosion of the group’s market value.
Shares of the ADAG group, which had already been falling, plunged further as investors saw no probability of a turnaround in ADAG group companies anytime soon. Ambani has seen his wealth erode in the last five years due to the burgeoning debt burden.
Around 2:55 pm on Tuesday, shares of all his group companies were down in the dumps: Reliance Infrastructure (down 10.30 per cent), Reliance Naval and Engineering (down 18.02 per cent), Reliance Home Finance (down 9.85 per cent), Reliance Communications (down 3.23 per cent), Reliance Power (down 15.09 per cent) and Reliance Capital (down 12.60 per cent).
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