Reliance Industries to invest in power sector: Report

Petrochemicals-to-refining conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd, which agreed to buy a telecoms company last week, will now make a foray into power sector, the Economic Times said.

The largest listed Indian company, with a market value of about $73 billion and controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has identified power, telecommunications, financial services and pharmaceuticals for investments in the near future, the newspaper said.

"The company will venture into power after telecom," it quoted an unnamed person familiar with the discussions as saying.                                           

On Friday, Reliance Industries made a dramatic return to telecoms, agreeing to buy Infotel Broadband, which was the only company to win a nationwide licence in India's broadband wireless spectrum auction.

The newspaper said Ambani would unveil new plans at the company''s annual general meeting in Mumbai on June 18. Details of Reliance's entry into power will unravel by the month-end as bidding opens for the country's ultra-mega power projects, it said. 

The paper said a Reliance Industries representative declined comment. 

The company's board, which met early last week, discussed strategies to enter high-growth sectors, the paper said, which have become possible after the cancellation of a non-compete pact between Mukesh's brother Anil.

Reliance Industries total investment in telecoms would be about $5 billion, media reports said. Reliance is paying about $1 billion to get a 95 percent stake in Infotel Broadband, while a source has said it would also pay broadband spectrum price of $2.75 billion.

Separately, the Business Standard newspaper reported Reliance Industries executive Manoj Modi told analysts the company was not looking to acquire any of the Indian mobile operators offering second-generation (2G) mobile services.