RIL all set to become India`s first $100 billion M-cap company, says Morgan Stanley

01 August 2007

Mumbai: Reliance Industries, India`s most valued company, is well on its way to become the country''s first company with a market capitalisation $100 billion as well, brokerage and equity research group Morgan Stanley said.

They also revised upward their one-year price target for RIL shares, while projecting a 35 per cent surge from the current levels in its "base case" scenario.

In a research note to its institutional clients, Morgan Stanley said they were raising the consolidated earnings forecasts for RIL in the current and next fiscals.

RIL`s current market capitalisation is about $64 billion, the highest for any listed entity in the country, Morgan Stanley said, adding, in "bull case" scenario, the shares could rise by about 37 per cent, which when translated into market capitalisation would amount to over $100 billion.

None of the Indian companies have ever achieved this mark, even though at least 30 companies in the US have a market capitalisation of more than $100 billion. Tobacco giant Altria Group, insurance major AIG, telecom firm AT&T, Coca-Cola, General Electric, Google, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel, JP Morgan, Johnson and Johnson, Merck, Microsoft, Procter and Gamble, Verizon Communications and Wal-Mart all have market cap above $100 billion.

However, this pales in comparison to the US, where the most valued listed entity Exxonmobil, which is also into the energy business, has a market value of close to $485 billion.