RIL AGM: From 5G smartphone to affordable laptop, here’s what you need to know

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Shares of oil-to-telecom behemoth Reliance Industries (RIL) ended lower on Wednesday ahead of its annual general meeting (AGM) on Thursday at 2 pm (IST). The event is widely tracked by investors and market participants as chairman Mukesh Ambani provides information on the outlook of all key business divisions. Historically, the market had seen major announcements on phones, tariffs, stake sales, among others. This year, the AGM date has been set earlier on June 24 (against in July/Aug in the previous few years).

BofA Securities said, “Our interaction with investors indicate that many think there could be a major announcement on back of AGM being preponed.” It believes that the element of surprise from AGM this year would be relatively lower as the global brokerage firm don’t expect any major trigger impacting the $195 billion market cap stock. However, it expects new announcements and updates on each of the business.

Here’s what to expect from RIL’s 44th AGM

5G phone: Analysts are looking for an update on Jio-Google phone features (like 5G), potentially pricing and timeline. “The phones are unlikely to be available for the next two months at least,” BofA Securities said. “We think any clarity on the pricing of phones, tariffs on Jio-Google phone could act as a catalyst for RIL. Any aggressive pricing could have a negative impact on Jio’s competitors – Bharti and VIL,” BofA Securities said.

Commerce business: Market participants are also zeroing in on the clarity on JioMart or other online commerce businesses along with the JioMart-WhatsApp integration.

Carbon emission: Investors are also looking for more information on the road map to net carbon zero and ESG with a focus on clean and renewable energy.

New appointment: Some media reports also suggested that RIL may announce the appointment of Yasir Al-Rumayyan, chairman of Saudi Aramco and governor of the kingdom’s wealth fund Public Investment Fund, on its board during AGM.

Affordable laptop: RIL may introduce a new affordable laptop to tap into the massive demand for work from home machines. However, analysts do not consider this to be a piece of material news from the stock perspective even if the pricing is aggressive.