Anil Ambani has been in the news for quite some time now due to several reasons. Recently, his Reliance Power became a debt-free company and Reliance Infrastructure Ltd reduced its debt significantly by 87 per cent from Rs 3,831 crore to Rs 475 crore. Now, there is another piece of good news for Ambani, the Calcutta High Court has upheld a Rs 780 crore arbitration award in favour of the Reliance Group firm in a dispute with West Bengal-based Damodar Valley Corporation, the Anil Ambani group company said in a stock exchange filing. Reliance Infra's market cap currently stands at Rs 12784 crore, as of September 27. The share price of the company closed at 328.70 on Friday.
What is the arbitration case?
More than a decade back, Reliance Infra had won a contract to set up a 1,200 MW thermal power plant in Purulia in West Bengal for Rs 3,750 crore. The project was delayed due to disputes and other reasons, leading to DVC seeking damages from Reliance Infra. The Anil Ambani group firm, however, challenged this, and an arbitration tribunal in 2019 ruled in favour of the company and directed DVC to pay Rs 896 crore to the company. DVC challenged the order of the arbitral tribunal in the Calcutta High Court, which was dismissed by the court.
"This is to inform that on September 27, 2024, the Division Bench of Hon'ble High Court of Calcutta delivered its judgment in a petition filed by Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) challenging the arbitration award under Section 34, dated September 29, 2023, amounting to approximately Rs 780 crore, including accrued interest in favour of the company concerning the Raghunathpur Thermal Power Project," the firm said in the filing.
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The company said the court "with the exception of relief on pre-award interest and reduction in the rate of interest on bank guarantee totalling to Rs 181 crore and upheld the (arbitration) award, totalling approximately Rs 780 crore, including accrued interest. In addition, the bank guarantee of Rs 600 crore will also be released".
The company said it is currently conducting a detailed review of the judgment and "will proceed, based on legal advice, either to enforce the Award to the extent upheld or to challenge the judgment dated September 27, 2024, where it interferes with the Award".
(With inputs from PTI)
