Reliance Infrastructure shares crash 19% in seven sessions, hits 52-week low; here is why

Shares of industrialist Anil Ambani-backed Reliance Infrastructure fell for a seventh straight session on Tuesday, December 9. The stock has crashed as much as 19% in the last seven sessions to hit a fresh 52-week low of ₹139.63 on the National Stock Exchange. On the BSE, Reliance Infrastructure shares have crashed as much as 18.84% to hit a new 52-week low of ₹139.75, data from the exchange showed.

In intraday deals on Tuesday, Reliance Infrastructure shares dropped as much as 5% on the NSE and BSE amid higher than usual trading volumes.

Trading volume in Reliance Infrastructure shares nearly doubled to 12.79 lakh shares compared with an average trading volume of 6.64 lakh shares.

On the BSE, as many as 1.07 lakh shares changed hands in early deals compared with an average of 1.57 lakh shares traded daily in the past two weeks.

Reliance Infrastructure have been facing selling pressure after Enforcement Directorate (ED) last week attached a total assets worth ₹10,000 crore as part of its ongoing money laundering probe against the companies of Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani.

The Reliance Centre, a guesthouse and some residential assets in Mumbai, apart from 231 plots of land in Chennai, are among the fresh assets worth Rs 1,120 crore attached by the ED as part of its ongoing money laundering probe against the companies of Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani.

The properties belong to Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL) and Reliance Commercial Finance Limited (RCFL), and the probe is linked to an alleged fraud at the Yes Bank, the federal agency said in a statement on Friday.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) earlier froze properties worth more than Rs 8,997 crore of the business group. With the latest action, the total value of attachment of the Reliance Group stands at Rs 10,117 crore, it said.

Among the 18 immovable assets provisionally attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) are the Reliance Centre in Ballard Estate, a commercial office building of Reliance Infrastructure Limited in Andheri East and residential properties and a guesthouse of Reliance Infrastructure Limited in Santacruz (all in Mumbai).

A total of 231 plots of land and seven residential flats in Chennai, belonging to Reliance Value Services Private Limited, have also been attached as part of the same order, the ED said.

The movable assets that have been attached include fixed and bank deposits, shareholding in unquoted investments of the Reliance Anil Ambani Group, apart from some other entities. The total value of the attachment is Rs 1,120 crore, the agency said.

Reliance Group companies have repeatedly said Ambani was not involved in the day-to-day management of the conglomerate. The industrialist has once been questioned by the ED as part of the money-laundering investigation linked to an alleged Rs 17,000-crore bank fraud against his group companies.

Meanwhile, Reliance Infrastructure clarified that of the total value cited, ₹8,078 crore pertains to assets of Reliance Communications, a company that ceased to be a part of the Reliance Group since 2019 that is, for more than six years.

Reliance Communications has been undergoing the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) and is currently managed entirely by the Resolution Professional, under the supervision of the Hon’ble NCLT and its Committee of Creditors (CoC), led by the State Bank of India (SBI) along with a consortium of banks and lenders.

As of 10:10 23 am, Reliance Infrastructure shares traded 2.36% lower at ₹143.60, underperforming the NIFTY500 index which was down 0.6%.