RIL AGM okays 1:1 bonus; Nov 27 record date

The shareholders of the country's most valued company Reliance Industries (RIL) today approved the 1:1 bonus issue for which the company fixed November 27, 2009 as the record date.

In a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), RIL said the shareholders at the 35th annual general meeting (AGM) today approved November 27, 2009 as the record date for determining the shareholders who will be entitled to bonus issue.

The RIL board had, last month, approved 1:1 issuance of bonus shares after a 12-year hiatus. The last time RIL announced a bonus issue was in October 1997.

The company founded by the late Dhirubhai Ambani, credited for drawing retail investors to the stock markets in the 1970s, recommended an issue of one bonus share for every share held by shareholders, which the company felt would help unlock value.

"The proposal for bonus and dividend continue RIL's tradition of awarding shareholders on a sustained basis. If we look at our track record since we listed in 1978, our shareholders have got 25 per cent compounded return over these 31 years since RIL became a public company," RIL CFO Alok Aggarwal had said.

However, shares of RIL today shed 0.65 per cent to close at Rs 2,133.75 on the BSE, as the AGM failed to enthuse investors, who were expecting some big-bang announcements. The market as a whole had a choppy day, as Asian cues were not encouraging.

The RIL counter, which carries the most weight in the benchmark Sensex, has gained as much as 74 per cent so far this year from Rs 1,230.25 on December 31, 2008.